Construction has begun on the $28 million project, which was fast-tracked in May to limit the disruption to traders and maximise the city’s appeal once tourists return. The project extends from Shield to Alpin Streets in the Cairns city centre.

In order to facilitate an accelerated program, Cairns City Council adopted a three-staged delivery which includes construction of the footpath as the first stage; second stage will be the construction of the road and landscaping from September and the completion of the  outdoor dining area the third stage.

This project called for a wellpoint dewatering system for pipe work using a staged Leap Frog System at 50m intervals. NPR was able to offer an extremely fast response time of two hours.

Because of the sensitive high-profile location, it was vital that all aspects of set up, operation and demobilisation were not only meticulously planned but carefully executed. The system design incorporated silenced pumps to ensure minimal noise and disruption to the public and businesses. A sand trap was used to ensure only clean water was discharged into stormwater catchment to protect the marine environment backed up with daily testing and monitoring of water quality.