Domenica has broken through for the last time to complete link sewer C

She’s done it! Our girl Domenica, the micro-Tunnel Boring Machine (mTBM), has broken through for the last time to complete link sewer C. If you’re wondering what that is, it’s the first of two smaller tunnels that connect to our main Central Interceptor wastewater tunnel. The 2.6m diameter cutterhead – that’s the sharp bit that drills through the ground – chewed through the concrete wall of a 13m deep shaft at Miranda Street in Avondale just before 10am last Friday. To give you a bit of background info, Domenica was launched in June 2021 and has completed four shaft breakthroughs along the 3.2km tunnel route running from May Rd in Mt Roskill to Avondale. She’ll now be refurbished before starting work on link sewer B in late July. Well done to all the team on this fantastic milestone. 
 

As far back as the 1870s, the name Domenica has been an important part of Ghella’s history with the wives of forefather Domenico and his son, company founder Adolfo, both named Domenica. These women were integral to the Ghella family, as the hard-working mothers and wives supporting the family business behind the scenes. The women understood the need for exploration and encouraged their husbands to travel and discover in the hope of learning about new foreign lands. Today, some five generations later the Ghella family of explorers and tunnellers have constructed and delivered major infrastructure projects across the world.

The project provides a supersized wastewater tunnel that will significantly reduce wastewater overflows into central Auckland’s waterways. The increased capacity in the wastewater network also provides for future growth and development on the Auckland Isthmus for the next 50 years and beyond.