The Christchurch branch of Harrison Grierson, an innovative New Zealand engineering and design consultancy, have been using Clarinspect software over 2016 for:

• Site Snag and Defect Reports

• Pre-Pour Inspections, and

• Construction Monitoring

Shortly after the North Canterbury earthquakes in November, some of the Harrison Grierson staff redirected their focus to urgent recovery work in the Kaikoura area, starting with inspections of wastewater and stormwater assets.

The first project was for Damage Assessment of Wastewater Manholes.

The detail of the inspection includes a GPS position (automatic with Clarinspect); an inspection of the lid, chamber and upstream/downstream damage with photographs. A sketch of the asset is also required - this is done by hand on site, photographed with Clarinspect for inclusion in the report.

"We really appreciate the rapid response of the Clarinspect team in getting this inspection system going, and adapting the system as we adjust to the situation on the ground," said Neil Andrews the Senior Site engineer coordinating the work.

"The automatic report generation and spreadsheet management cuts down on human error, saves engineer’s time, and allows us to rapidly deliver quality results to the council - which is key."

Realising the volume of work required (between 40-90 manholes inspections are being completed each day) Harrison Grierson has committed to some simple yet powerful reporting features to help their ultimate client the Kaikoura District Council.

Because the information is “digital from the start” the printed reports are able to be coded and sorted:

• Red where there is a significant hazard presented

• Yellow where there has been difficulty in locating the asset

Crucially the information is also tabulated into a summary spreadsheet ensuring the data can be:

• Transferred into the Council’s GIS system

• Sorted so hazards can be easily identified and “missing” assets can be re-inspected

• Cross referenced with the written reports which contain photos and sketches

Urgent work such as this is stressful. The local population is highly impacted by the earthquake, the council has a huge amount of work to complete (manholes are just one part of a very complex infrastructure recovery) and many different consultancies have pitched in to help.

Harrison Grierson had first-hand experience of the Christchurch earthquakes and their aftermath, and understand the huge volume of paper generated by these initial inspections. Using a system like Clarinspect to capture the information digitally enables decision makers to prioritise urgent work without sorting through huge volumes of handwritten reports.

The next project for the team in Kaikoura is Damage Assessment of the Stormwater Network. Harrison Grierson are continuing to innovate with these assessment - again with the end goal of making the data more visible and useable, helping the Kaikoura District to begin re-building as efficiently and quickly as possible.