Preserving History with Precision: 3D Scanning Wellington's Petone Wharf

Fletcher Building is one of New Zealand’s leading construction companies and a key delivery partner for the Te Awa Kairangi – RiverLink project in Wellington. This multi-year programme will reshape the region’s transport and infrastructure network.

Background

Fletcher Building is one of New Zealand’s leading construction companies and a key delivery partner for the Te Awa Kairangi – RiverLink project in Wellington. This multi-year programme will reshape the region’s transport and infrastructure network.

As part of the delivery of their new RIEGL VZ-600i scanner, Synergy Group supported Fletcher’s survey team with a separate, heritage-critical project to scan the Petone Wharf for the Hutt City Council.

Petone Wharf, a 116-year-old landmark in Lower Hutt, is one of New Zealand’s most recognisable heritage structures. Closed since 2021 due to earthquake and storm damage, the wharf’s future became a matter of significant public interest. The Council commissioned expert assessments to weigh the costs and benefits of full restoration, partial remediation, or full demolition.

Before decisions could be made, the Council needed a complete, highly accurate understanding of the wharf’s current condition. Traditional survey methods would have been time-consuming, difficult to execute across the timber structure, and potentially unsafe given its compromised integrity. A precise, non-intrusive solution was required to capture every structural detail for engineering analysis.

The Challenge

Capturing the deteriorating state of the wharf presented multiple challenges:

1. Heritage Importance: As a 116-year-old timber structure, every detail needed to be preserved digitally for assessment and historical record.
2. Underside Access: Traditional surveys from the shoreline couldn’t capture the full extent of deterioration beneath the wharf.
3. Time & Cost Efficiency: Conventional survey methods would have taken days longer.
4. Accuracy & Safety: Engineers needed a millimetre-accurate dataset without placing teams at risk on an unsafe structure.

Our Solution

Within three days, Synergy Group delivered the RIEGL VZ-600i terrestrial laser scanner with RiSCAN PRO software, trained Fletcher’s team, and assisted in the wharf capture safely and comprehensively.

 The survey approach combined multiple capture methods:

• The scanner was mounted on the back of a boat and operated in kinematic mode to capture the underside of the wharf in detail.
• Long-range scans were carried out from the beach to provide coverage of the entire structure.
• Static scans were taken from the wharf deck itself to complete the dataset.

The fieldwork was completed in just six hours, with another six hours of processing to produce the final outputs.

Results & Outcomes

The RIEGL VZ-600i delivered immediate and measurable benefits:

• A comprehensive 3D capture of the wharf delivered in just 12 hours (6 hours fieldwork + 6 hours processing)
• High-precision survey data to support the structural analysis
• 5 days saved compared to traditional surveying methods
  
• Significant cost savings through streamlined workflows
• Enhanced safety, eliminating the need for unsafe manual inspections

Customer Feedback

I’ve previously worked with RIEGL scanners in South Africa, so I was familiar with their capabilities. The VZ-600i has surpassed expectations here in New Zealand - its speed, accuracy, and efficiency have already saved us days on a single project.

Future Outlook

The RIEGL VZ-600i is now a long-term asset for Fletcher Building, providing value across all projects that require advanced surveying capabilities, especially the Te Awa Kairangi – RiverLink project.

About Synergy Group: Your Local Reality Capture Partner

With over 30 years of experience across Australia and New Zealand, Synergy Group helps businesses in the transport, construction, architecture, mining, and public safety sectors deliver smarter, safer, and more efficient projects through advanced reality capture solutions.

Discover how the RIEGL VZ-600i can transform your surveying workflows with faster, more accurate, and safer data capture.