Tathra Wharf Restoration rolls on with revised timeline

Project Manager David Buckley has been happy with progress so far, encountering only the odd hiccup through the early stages of work on the wharf.

TATHRA WHARF:

"The detailed condition assessment report has proven pretty right where it said 'you're going to need to replace these piles or these girders or these headstocks'," Mr Buckley said.

The project will however not be finished by Christmas, as was initially planned, according to Mr Buckley.

"Because no one has done this in living memory, it's not as if we can say 'that's how long it took on that job'.

"I want it done right. I don't want it done fast for an artificial deadline, it's got to be done right," he said.

According to Mr Buckley, the construction crew of GPM Marine Constructions will have to adapt their methodology once they reach the end of the current stretch they're working on, making it difficult to pinpoint an exact finish date.

"The tricky thing we are going to have is when we turn right.

"They'll be working parallel to the headstocks, so they'll have to come up with a revised methodology and once they do that it won't be the same rate of progress.

"We'll then know the rate of progress moving perpendicular and parallel to the headstocks and apply that to the other half of the wharf and we'll have a fairly good bench mark," he said

As a tourism hotspot, Mr Buckley said a plan was in place to make sure the public were still able to enjoy the wharf over Christmas, before work would start up again in the new year.

"Because we won't be done by Christmas we're going to modify it a bit so we can keep as much open as possible.

"What we'll do is pull everything out and open it up as much as we can over the peak period and school holidays."

While the completion date has been moved back from the original date of November this year, the project has evolved throughout the early stages, with parts of the final stages completed during stage one.

"We did a part of stage six during stage one and we did a bunch of stuff underneath earlier as well," Mr Buckley said.

While unable to specify an exact date, Mr Buckley said it would likely still be a year away from completion.

"We don't have a hard 'it's got to be done by this date'.

"They're doing it right and the quality of work is excellent," he said.

An interesting aspect of the project has been what was to be made of the timber that had been removed and replaced.

Mr Buckley said as decking was pulled off, some parts were able to be reused, while others were unsalvageable.

"Major work was done on the front section 20 years ago and by-and-large we have been able to reuse those," Mr Buckley said.

Going off original engineering drawings, the crew have learned to expect the unexpected when removing piles, with timber often varying in length and quality.

"The other big surprise for us was the piles, we'd expected to be embedded 600 millimetres, and in some cases they were lucky to be in 150 millimetres.

"We've encountered a couple like that where we were hoping to reuse the pile and we either can't because it's deteriorated to a point we didn't pick up in the report, or it's not potted in far enough."

"To say we'll drill the hole deeper, the pile is now not going to be long enough."

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Reuse of the discarded timber had a pecking order according to Mr Buckley, with first dibs going to the council's bridge crew as a potential cost saver for maintenance on the Valley's many bridges.

"The leisure and rec[reation] guys who do parks and gardens and things get a second grab," he said.

"The worst stuff goes to the central waste facility - the stuff that can't be used."

Everything in between would be sold in public lots, he said, with local businesses able to pick it up.

"It's not for people to come and get trailer loads or a piece of Tathra Wharf, but firewood contractors, places that specialise in repurposing or recycling timber might pick it up.

"We'll put it out there once we've got a significant quantity of it," he said.

The next step for the construction crew will be to work out to the farthest corner of the wharf.

"When they get to the end, they work their way back out pulling the temporary steel bracing as they go and laying the new decking," Mr Buckley said

When work commences on the southern section of the deck, Mr Buckley said the current access would be switched, allowing fishers and the like to still enjoy the wharf.

"It wouldn't be worth my life preventing these guys from fishing," he laughed.

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