The recent flooding and cyclone events have made Aucklanders all too aware of how the cities we’ve built have become vulnerable to major weather events. Described as a 1 in 200-year event, parts of Auckland have seen nearly half a year of rain fall in less than two months.
One company in Wiri is part of the solution to create a spongier city. We spoke to
Darien Warburton, Product Manager of APD, to find out more.
You will see in your own neighbourhoods that there is an ever-increasing number of new developments. As we build more hard surfaces like buildings, roads and carparks, there’s less permeable surfaces to absorb the water.
The concept of a sponge city is simple – design and construct cities in a such a way that rain fall is captured, so they are more resilient to weather events. This is where APD can help.
‘APD stands for Advanced Plastic Design – and our role is to revolutionise water management solutions for the New Zealand environment’ says Darien.
‘There’s two main parts of the business – we create stormwater detention and retention systems, both above and underground solutions’.
‘We’re also one of two companies in New Zealand that produce plastic fabricated chemical storage tanks to Health and Safety at Work Hazardous ubstance regulation 2017’.
APD has already been part of providing water management solutions in modern development areas.
‘We were encouraged with how modern greenfield development areas such as Hobsonville Point and Stonefields managed the excess stormwater volumes. APD have provided thousands of detention and retention tanks in these areas’.
‘With greenfields build, there is a mandate on stormwater detention in Auckland. For example, if you build a house, you need to detain water based on your roof size. It’s not mandated anywhere else in the country yet, but I think we will see that
happening in the future’.
APD have a range of solutions to help households and businesses with water detention and retention.
‘Our range of tanks includes above ground, inslab and below ground options’.
‘Our StormLite tanks can be used for both detention and retention and can be installed under the lawn or driveway, which frees up space on your property.
‘The Rainworx rain harvesting system can help save on the water bill, collecting rainwater for usage in your washing machine, toilet and garden. When there’s not enough water or there is no power, it automatically switches to the mains’.
‘If a customer needs a bespoke solution, we can also custom make tanks to whichever shape or size they want’.
‘APD is the only company in New Zealand to have a complete offering to meet residential and commercial requirements and all of our products are manufactured right here on site’.
Recently their product ‘StormSlab’ was the winner of the NZ Plumbing awards 2022 product of the year. It’s an innovative stormwater detention and retention system designed to manage rainwater and stormwater when there are space restrictions.
‘We saw there was a need for a product that could be installed under the house, as there are more space restrictions to consider in new builds.
‘StormSlab has been designed in collaboration with our customers to provide a new system of inslab Detention / Retention tanks, to provide a system that is simpler to install and more robust than other systems’.
Though APD are plastic manufacturers, sustainability is important to the company.
‘The plastic we use in manufacturing is polyethylene, which is 100 percent recyclable. Our tank could go on the ground for 50 years and we can dig it up and
recycle the plastic to make something else’.
‘We recycle even the smallest offcuts and buy back the recycled plastic for use in tanks where regulation allows’
APD have been in business for over 35 years and purchased their current factory on McLaughlins Road five years ago. And with the need for creating sponge cities, it is likely that this growth will continue.
‘When we came into the factory, we thought ‘how are we going to fill this space?’. Now it is not big enough and we plan to expand the office block on the front of the building and add an additional 1000m2 to the factory’.
‘The company has grown, and we employ approximately 60 people from twelve nationalities. Our diverse workforce helps shape our great team culture’.
‘We’re proud to be part of the solution for building spongier cities now and into the future’.