Clive Wilson Switchboards delivered the complete electrical assembly package for two Hastings District Council drinking water treatment plants at Frimley Park and Eastbourne Street in Hawke’s Bay. The scope included main switchboards (MSBs), motor control centres (MCCs), distribution boards, pump control panels, and Allen Bradley PLC control panels — all built to AS/NZS 61439 at our Invercargill Workshop
| Client | Hastings District Council |
| Electrical Contractor | ICE Electrical |
| Sites | Frimley Park (2020) and Eastbourne Street (2021) |
| Scope | MSB, distribution boards, MCC, pump control panels, Allen Bradley PLC panels |
| PLC Platform | Allen Bradley / Rockwell Automation |
| Sector | Water & Infrastructure / Local Government |
| Location | Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand |
The Frimley and Eastbourne water treatment plants were built as part of Hastings District Council’s response to the 2016 Havelock North gastroenteritis outbreak – one of New Zealand’s worst drinking water contamination events, which affected thousands of residents. The outbreak triggered a fundamental review of drinking water safety standards across the country and drove significant infrastructure investment in the Hastings district.
The Frimley Park facility serves approximately 40,000 households across Flaxmere, Bridge Pa, Hastings, and Havelock North. The Eastbourne Street facility serves approximately 20,000 households in the central city and surrounding areas. Both plants incorporate UV treatment, chlorination, and fluoridation to meet the Drinking-water Standards for New Zealand.
Clive Wilson Switchboards was engaged by ICE Electrical to design and manufacture the electrical distribution and control assemblies for both sites.
The MSB for each site was designed and manufactured to AS/NZS 61439, providing the primary electrical distribution point for the treatment facility. Water treatment plants require reliable, well-documented electrical distribution infrastructure with clear circuit identification, appropriate fault ratings, and the capacity to support pumping, treatment, and auxiliary loads simultaneously.
Each MSB was designed as the central power distribution point for its respective treatment plant, handling incoming mains supply and distributing power to all downstream equipment including pumps, chemical dosing systems, UV disinfection, filtration controls, and building services. The boards were manufactured to withstand the demands of a 24/7 water treatment environment – where a power interruption directly affects the supply of safe drinking water to the community.
Distribution boards were supplied for each site to feed local circuits throughout the treatment building – lighting, power, instrumentation, and auxiliary services.
The MCC was configured to manage pump motor starting, control, and protection across the treatment process. Water treatment facilities rely on reliable pump control for bore extraction, transfer, and pressure management.
Water treatment MCCs must provide reliable motor starting, overload protection, and fault isolation for pumps that run continuously or on automated duty cycles. The MCCs manufactured for Frimley and Eastbourne included motor starters, variable speed drives where specified, protection relays, and local isolation for each pump circuit – allowing individual pumps to be maintained without shutting down the rest of the plant.
Dedicated pump control panels were supplied for each site to manage the specific pumping sequences required by the treatment and storage process. These panels interface directly with the PLC system and provide local control, status indication, and fault alarming for individual pumps.
The process control panels were built around the Allen Bradley / Rockwell Automation PLC platform. These panels provide the automation logic for the treatment process: UV dosing, chlorination sequencing, water level management, pump control, and system alarming. Full I/O termination, field wiring interfaces, and HMI provisions were included.
The PLC control panels were built to Stantec’s specification, housing Allen Bradley / Rockwell Automation hardware for process control and SCADA integration. Clive Wilson Switchboards manufactured the panels, wired the I/O modules, and delivered them fully tested and ready for Stantec’s control systems integrators to programme and commission on site. The PLC system manages the entire treatment process – from raw water intake through coagulation, filtration, UV disinfection, and treated water storage – with remote monitoring and alarm capability via the council’s SCADA network.
Clive Wilson Switchboards has experience designing and manufacturing Allen Bradley PLC-based control panels for water, wastewater, and industrial process applications. All panels are wired, terminated, and factory tested in our Invercargill workshop before delivery.
One of the practical advantages of the Frimley and Eastbourne programme was the near-identical scope across both sites. Having completed the Frimley Park package in 2020, Clive Wilson Switchboards was able to apply directly transferable design, documentation, and manufacturing processes to the Eastbourne project in 2021.
This consistency delivered benefits for the client: standardised panel configurations make training, maintenance, and spare parts management simpler across both facilities. For a council infrastructure asset expected to operate for 20-30 years, that long-term consistency has real operational value.
The result: two fully commissioned water treatment facilities with reliable electrical infrastructure, reduced project risk through design reuse, and full compliance with AS/NZS standards. Both plants are now in service, delivering safe drinking water to the Hastings district. See our other switchboard case studies for more examples of infrastructure projects across New Zealand.
A PLC control panel for a water treatment application typically includes the PLC processor and I/O modules, power supply, field wiring termination rails, HMI provisions, and status and alarm indication. The panel is designed around the process requirements and wired and factory tested against a test specification before delivery to site.
Clive Wilson Switchboards has experience manufacturing control panels on Allen Bradley / Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Omron PLC platforms. We work to the specified platform for each project and can assist with I/O design, panel layout, and factory acceptance testing.
Yes. Clive Wilson Switchboards has supplied MSBs, MCCs, distribution boards, pump control panels, and PLC control panels for drinking water treatment, water storage, and wastewater treatment infrastructure across New Zealand.
Yes. The Frimley and Eastbourne projects were delivered under contract to ICE Electrical, who held the head electrical contract for Hastings District Council. We regularly work as a specialist switchboard and panel manufacturer under electrical contractors on council and infrastructure projects.
For a project of this scale – MSB, MCC, distribution boards, pump control panels, and PLC panels – allow a minimum of 10-16 weeks from confirmed order to delivery, depending on component availability and panel complexity.
Clive Wilson Switchboards manufactures MSBs, MCCs, distribution boards, pump control panels, and PLC-based control panels for water treatment, wastewater, and infrastructure projects across New Zealand.
Whether your project is in Hawke’s Bay, Waikato, or anywhere else in New Zealand, our Hastings-based team can deliver a complete electrical assembly package — from design and specification through to factory acceptance testing and site delivery.
Contact us to discuss your project, or learn more about our switchboard manufacturing services.
