News

Data centres are essential to modern society and New Zealand has been building some recently. Most of them rely on the specialised large-radius bends fabricated by Solo to carry the cabling they need without damaging it or impairing its performance. As can be seen from the phot, it looks like a real snake’s wedding!

Following the Kiwirail Type Approval, NZTA have reissued their culvert standard P46 to properly reflect the commonplace use of flexible pipes in roading culverts and remove prior ambiguity over their status. This follows on from the March 2026 reissue of the Auckland Council Stormwater code of practice after years of lobbying by INFRAPIPE, to also remove misleading historical omissions that were heavily slanted in favour of more expensive and less effective concrete pipes. Truly a step forward for economical and efficient stormwater management.

The first-of-its kind sliplining project in Nelson relied not only on the engineering design and pipe manufacture from Infrapipe, but equally as much on the skills of Solo’s onsite welding team, who welded the 2m pipes on the site, sometimes in the trench, added laterals for existing connections and were essential for installing the bends, risers and grit sumps correctly.

When Auckland Council had a problem with a stormwater flow down a 22 degree gradient eating away at the hillside, they called INFRAPIPE. Only with their KRAH helical pipes can an asset manager achieve a lasting solution by piping this flow down the hill so it can re-emerge through a ‘bubble up chamber’. For more info read here or see here.

Not long after the official opening, an equally important first took place – the switching on of Manawatu Cold Store’s 554Kw solar power system from SES Electrical in Palmy. With the entire new store covered in panels, the system will generate a much-needed 672,600 KWh annually.

As the leading innovator in the NZ pipe world, INFRAPIPE has fought to achieve representation on the AS/NZS committees which dictate the design, testing and installation of thermoplastic pipes in New Zealand, and recently Technical Director Paul Ayers was appointed to committees PL-006, PL-021, WS-14 and WS-28 to ensure that the NZ pipe market gets the best standards for the technology now available.

Galloways Playground products have continued to attract additional export customers. “It looks like the world is recognising that quality – long life – comes at a premium,” explained Director Myles Cooper as another container departed for South East Asia, “and having tried alternatives with thinner walls, cheaper resin and less appropriate manufacturing techniques, have decided they prefer a top-quality product for their children.”

Technicool has supplied an 865kw CO2 system to the Manawatu Cold Store extension, marking the largest [non-supermarket] installation of CO2 in New Zealand. The system refrigerates 2100m2 of cold store at -20, half that of loading area at -7 and six 36 tonne blast freezers at -36, and it does so substantially more efficiently than the ammonia system operated in the three freezers commissioned 8 years ago in the existing cold store.

On Friday 31 October His Worship Michael Hill, Mayor of Feilding, used his golden scissors for the first time to cut the ribbon and officially open the extension to Manawatu Cold Store. Some 70 of the people involved with the extension from engineers to builders to trades to the accountants, plus customers, staff all enjoyed some good speeches, great Feilding weather and a drink or two to celebrate a significant milestone for the 50-year old business.