Staig & Smith have worked on a vast number of varied projects
for both private and public clients. The following selected jobs are intended to showcase the breadth of our abilities.

Galeo Estate

Maisey Road, Tasman, Nelson

The Galeo Estate subdivision is a 29 lot residential cluster along with two farm or open space lots.  The development lies within the Rural 3 Zone in the Coastal Tasman Area.  Staig & Smith prepared the Resource Consent Application which included inputs from an interdisciplinary team of design and land management professionals.  Many issues such as road design, footpaths, fish passage, water, stormwater and wastewater along with earthworks design were dealt with in the consent process removing uncertainties in how the local authority would deal with those issues later at detailed engineering design stage.  The concept design was carried out using a series of overlay plans highlighting the site characteristics to allow the concept layout to be refined to optimise the opportunities and challenges the site presented.

Sustainability was emphasised with particular attention being paid to layout of the subdivision in response to its natural attributes.  Rehabilitation of waterways included the installation of fish passage with a resulting increase in fish numbers and species.  Soft engineering was adopted for water management through the use of open swales and natural waterways and a minimisation of pipework.  Plantings helped to offset the increased runoff generated as a result of development.

Water harvesting for non-potable use has been encouraged to supplement the restricted supply from the Council rural reticulation scheme.

Staig & Smith prepared engineering plans and worked closely with the developer during the construction phase.  Land tenure is by way of freehold titles along with titles held in common for jointly owned land.

The developer demonstrated vision for the land and was deeply involved in wetland restoration, planting of riparian margins of streams and transformation of the property from its former rural use.

The development has been awarded the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors Award of Excellence.

For further details contact Lawrie Saunders or Darrin Canton.

Bronte Downs

Bronte Road East, Tasman, Nelson

Bruce and Margaret Fraser engaged Staig & Smith to be the lead consultants for Bronte Downs, an environmentally sensitive, coastal development within Tasman's Rural 3 coastal area.  Bronte Downs is located on the northern Bronte Peninsula adjoining the Waimea Estuary, with the development consisting of a boundary adjustment of four allotments and subdivision of seven allotments.

Staig & Smith worked extensively with the Client to provide relevant solutions and advice that would benefit the environmental quality and economics of the development.  The Client was encouraged to seek quality accounting and financial advice that resulted in the subdivision being carried out in two stages, with the process managed to provide the most  effective financial structure.

Despite the challenges of this sensitive coastal area Staig & Smith implemented an innovative approach to the development planning that resulted in a high level of amenity and quality environmental outcomes.  This development was the first subdivision within the Rural 3 zone to be consented to non-notified, with this being a testament to the sound initial concept design process, the close working relationship between the Clients, Consultants and Council Officers and  a comprehensive resource application.  Furthermore, the detailed planning process ensured there were no surprises in the construction phase.

Staig & Smith staff worked together through the various design, consent and construction processes and challenges.  They built key relationships early on to ensure that the Client's wishes and desired outcomes for the project were fully realised.  As a result of these key relationships and detailed planning the resulting project was successfully completed in September 2010, a project that all those involved with can be proud of.

For further details, contact Jackie McNae or Alex Martin.

Newhaven Subdivision

Newhaven Subdivision, Marahau

Staig & Smith were engaged by Newhaven Syndicate to carry out concept design, obtain resource consents, prepare engineering drawings and tender documents, oversee award of tender and construction processes along with the land transfer survey and coordination of inputs to obtain Council's completion certificate.

Marahau is located at the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and is a settlement of mixed permanent residences along with holiday homes.  The Newhaven site is located in an environmentally sensitive area close to the coast, and was within an area of interest to local Iwi.  Archaeological monitoring was carried out during construction in accordance with Archaeologist recommendations embodied in the resource consent conditions.

The sandy nature of the site provided potential for stormwater percolation to ground in addition to a new stormwater outlet installed to cater for high peak flows.  Rain gardens and swales have been used extensively throughout the subdivision providing opportunity for landscape planting sympathetic to the coastal environment.  The plantings have softened the built infrastructure and helped develop a cohesive theme and sense of place.

For further details contact Lawrie Saunders.

Franz Alpine Resort

Franz Alpine Resort, New Town

Franz Josef Glacier is one of the West Coast's main tourist destinations, however the village of Franz Josef is physically constrained in its potential to service a vibrant and growing tourist sector.  Our client, Callery Holdings Ltd sought opportunity to create what will effectively be a new town, Franz Alpine Resort, self-contained but complementing the role of Franz Josef as the existing tourist service centre for the northern glacier region.

Franz Alpine Resort will be situated about 8km north of Franz Josef, on a bush-clad site at Stony Creek.  It will eventually cover some 75ha of land, including a tourist core with retail, commercial and tourism focus with integrated access, parking open space and wetlands, and surrounding residential area.  Development will be fully serviced with reticulated wastewater treatment, water supply and stormwater management.  Subdivision, buildings and open space will be subject of a landscape concept plan and design guideline to ensure that development progresses in a manner sensitive to its natural and landscape setting.

Staig & Smith Ltd was engaged to develop a Private Plan Change Request to rezone the land from Rural to Tourist and Residential zonings, to assist the Client in realising the potential of the site in a planned and integrated approach.  We were appointed the Project Managers, co-ordinating landscape, hazards and engineering inputs to the concept design and eventual Plan Change.  We were involved in consultation with residents and agencies such as Department of Conservation, Transit New Zealand and West Coast Regional Council.  We prepared the Plan Change Request and accompanying statutory documentation, and appeared as Planning Witness for the project.  Council's decision to approve the Plan Change was confirmed through settlement of an Appeal to the Environment Court.

For further details contact Jackie McNae.

Geometric Surveys

Staig & Smith have been engaged to check tank circularity for out of round distortion of fuel storage tanks.  This work is easily carried out using reflectorless technology to survey the surface of the tank from a series of connected survey marks (traverse) surrounding the tanks.

The results of the survey can generate a three dimensional model of the tank and a cross-section generated at any level through the tank.  Our 12d software allows a true circle to be arrived at as a best fit to the shape of the tank and deviations of the tank wall from this circle to then be represented in plan format.

Repeat surveys from the previously established traverse can allow for monitoring of tanks over their service lifetime.  Trends such as tank subsidence may be interpreted from the results.

Reflectorless technology has greatly improved the ability to measure distances to discrete points and allows increased efficiencies and accuracy for industrial applications

For further details contact Alex Martin.

Dam Monitoring

Waiiti Dam Monitoring - Wakefield

Staig & Smith were engaged to provide on-going monitoring of a water storage dam at 88 Valley.

Monitoring is carried out by using Leica's 'Sets of Angles' functions which controls automated pointing of a servo driven theodolite.  Sets of Angles requires an initial round of manual observations after which the theodolite 'remembers' the location of the target reflectors and further repetitions of observations are then automated.  The on-board software calculates the residuals for inspection onsite to ensure residuals are within acceptable limits and outliers to be eliminated from calculations.

Typically on any given visit to the site, multiple automated rounds of observations are taken to then allow meaning (or averaging) of results and a report generated which provides confidence limits for the results generated on a particular day (typically within the range of several millimetres).  There are minor variations in results over the course of a site visit due to temperature and humidity along with the accuracy limits of the equipment employed and it is these minor variations which need to be understood and dealt with in accordance with statistical principles.  Measures are taken to reduce the effect of atmospheric conditions along with attention to the initial configuration of reference and monitoring points to ensure a strong geometry within the constraints of the site.

For further details contact Alex Martin.

Sands Apartment
Sands Apartment Project, Nelson - Apartment Set Out

The Sands Apartments are a four storied shopping/residential apartment development in Tahunanui.

Staig & Smith were engaged by the developers Donald Design Ltd to carry out:

  • Pre-design site survey
  • View-shaft plans
  • Expert Evidence for view-shaft issues
  • Resource Consent Application for Unit Titles Subdivision and reduction in Development Impact Levies
  • Proposed and Final Unit Title Plans

Following the decision to proceed with construction we were engaged by Ian McCully Builders Ltd to:

  • Set out foundations
  • Establish gridlines on subsequent floors
  • Monitoring of cut batter on the perimeter of the site.

For further details, contact Alex Martin.