Diver pulls plug on drainage solution

At Winslow Infrastructure, we are always encouraging our teams to ‘think outside of the box’ and look for innovative ways to work.

So, when our Lathams Road Upgrade team was looking for a construction solution, they quite literally went outside of the box and underwater.

At Boggy Creek in Carrum Downs, south-east of Melbourne, both culvert structures needed to be lengthened to accommodate the newly widened road above.

With limited information available to them on the structural integrity of the existing culverts, the team decided to replace the entire structure to guarantee capacity and life span.

The team engaged the services of a qualified diver to install an inflatable plug in November 2022 to isolate drainage lines so our team could carry out their works.

This work required experience in underwater conditions and confined spaces because it was a 3m deep storm water pit.

While the plugs were in place, water was diverted through the alternate culvert structure.   

Recently, the plugs were removed by the diver (pictured) and the creek is functioning as it did before these works.

This culvert crossing is critical to the flood management in the Carrum Downs area, because it strikes a balance between holding water back to avoid flooding downstream (north of Lathams Road) but let’s enough water through, so as not to cause upstream flooding.

Given the importance of the creek to the local amenity, our teams remained committed to protecting and enhancing their work environment and ensured smooth sailing for this important community asset.