The Carlton Hotel in Christchurch has stood for 150 years on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Papanui Road, widely known as Carlton Corner. The Carlton was the home of New Zealand’s first tap beer, and the first beer garden in the country.
When it was badly damaged during the September 2010 earthquake, the hotel remained up and running – but in the February 2011 quake, part of the façade collapsed into Papanui Road. Due to the additional damage, the hotel was deemed unsafe and was rebuilt to modern standards, while preserving as much of the original building as possible.
The rebuilt hotel reopened in September 2013, which was a great boost for a city that had been so badly impacted by the tragic events in 2011.
The busy hotel had a deep problem
Almost a decade later, the building had some new issues. A Boiler supplying hot water to the hotel had a mechanical failure which allowed steam to enter the sewer system, where it warped and damaged the pipe work. While some of the pipe work was accessible and able to be replaced easily, a damaged 100x100x100 PVC junction was located underneath the historic façade and would have involved a challenging excavation to gain access.
On top of this, the cracked pipe was connected to a busy fast food burger chain next door that’s open 18 hours a day, leaving little room either side of opening hours to fix the plumbing problem. Not to mention, because of the historic significance of the building, the repairs needed to happen without any noticeable change to the appearance of the building.
A solution that could be installed in hours and not days, without excavation or damage to the building, and without the need for extensive rehabilitation to this historic building, was needed.
The Nuflow Canterbury team was engaged to provide a unique solution that could be installed in hours rather than days, without excavation or damage to the building, and with minimal disruption to the connected buildings.
Pipe relining was the solution
As the premier pipe relining specialists in the region, Nuflow Canterbury knew exactly how to get the problem sorted.
“We planned to use the Nuflow Blueline System and install a complete junction liner into the damaged pipeline after regular business hours, when the Hotel and burger restaurant were closed. Our challenge was to get in and out without disruption or damage to the two businesses.”
Steve, Pipe Relining Technician, Nuflow Canterbury
The team arrived onsite just after 10pm on Sunday night. They had been preparing the installation methodology in advance, as well as all the tooling and locally made relining systems for installation.
“The installation went well; the team cleaned the pipe with high pressure water jet and conducted the normal CCTV inspection using our high definition drain camera. This gave us the exact location of where the issues were and what we needed to fix,” recalled Steve.
A more cost effective approach than traditional pipe replacement
It’s hard to factor all the associated costs into the total savings, but looking at the materials and time spent relining this job, versus replacing the pipes and repairing the building, we’d estimate about a 60% saving. This is quite a normal saving, because when the traditional approach of replacing pipes is taken there’s an additional cost associated with rectifying the site after the pipework is replaced. For example, walls need to be fixed, concrete relayed and waste removed from the site. The environmental footprint is also substantial compared to simply relining the pipe.
At Nuflow, we are making a name for ourselves as the experts in pipe repairs in historic buildings across Australia and New Zealand. Our pipe relining technicians have even won an award for the work on the nationally listed Old Parliament House ACT, Australia. You can find further details here – Award Winning Outside the Box Idea | Nuflow
Fix it permanently, with Nuflow
If you’re experiencing ongoing plumbing issues with your busy commercial building, historic building or home, Nuflow can fix it for good, without the need to excavate or demolish your building.
Nuflow has teams across Australia and New Zealand, ready to help with a solution you may have never thought possible. Contact your local Nuflow team today and find out more about our non-disruptive repair solutions.
