As his terms as Mayor of Auckland come to an end, Len Brown paid a final visit to City Rail Link project to have afternoon tea with the team and check out the project's newest arrival - the 150 ton piling rig.

1. Afternoon tea with mayor Len Brown

2. The Soilmec SR100 Piling Rig (behind the crane) is now fully assembled

3. Mayor Brown with some of his hosts: Marco Lucchi (to his left) and Giovanni
Occhipinti (to his right) from Trevi and Project Director Chris Powell (far right)

4. When fully unfurled with attachments the Soilmec SR100 will be 5.5m wide and 11m long, and the
mast is about 29m (nine storeys) high. It has an operating weight of 150 tonnes.

5. The Mayor tries his hand at the controls supervised by Giovanni Occhipinti from Trevi

6. The Cased Auger Pile configuration means a continuous flight auger excavates as a casing is
driven at the same time. As the auger is withdrawn concrete is pumped in and then the casing is
withdrawn. A reinforcement cage is finally inserted in.