Northcote Preschool on the corner of Lake Road and Tonar Street, is an immediate neighbour to Housing New Zealand land that is currently being redeveloped by Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities. Civil works alliance, Piritahi sent representatives to the preschool on a drizzly morning to explain to the children and teachers what was happening next door and provide the kids with the opportunity to get up close to the diggers over the fence.

Joseva Viqasi, Community Liaison Advisor, Steve Keenan, Site Supervisor and Brian Coyle–Dowling, Project Engineer, answered questions about the project from the children and teachers. The children donned miniature high visibility vests for the highlight of the visit – watching an experienced digger operator demonstrate the digger’s capabilities across the fence.

Joseva closed the session with a learning activity. The children dug out a range of different pipes that were buried in the preschool’s sandpit and learnt about the essential services each pipe carried.

Part of Piritahi’s mandate is to engage with the community in the development areas where they are working and keep them informed of what’s going on in the neighbourhood while land preparation processes are in progress. They do this in partnership with Kāinga Ora's urban development team and at times, other agencies involved in large-scale infrastructure works such as Watercare.