The first slab pour for the Tauranga Marine Precinct's travel lift dock will take place on Friday, marking a major step in the $10 million project.

The slab forms part of the hard standing area where the country's largest travel lift will operate to the south of the new dock. The 350-tonne lift is expected to arrive in ten weeks, after the hard standing area is completed, says project manager Phil Wardale.

'The pour begins on Friday night and should be completed Saturday morning,” says Phil.

'You could say it will be finished by the time most people read this.”

The pour involves more than 450 cubic metres of cement, weighing about 1175 tonnes, which will be delivered by 78 concrete trucks.

'It is not the largest pour in the project - there is a larger one in November. But it is still substantial, as you can see with the volumes involved. This is the first of three very large slab pours.”

Tauranga City Council is making good progress on the precinct, with the slab pour marking an important milestone, says Phil.

It follows months of underground preparation on the general civil works contract.

'Resilience is one of the council strategies on such developments,” says Phil.

'The decision to lift the site provides resilience against sea level rise and storm surges.”

The completed heavy paving area is required for the assembly and commissioning of the Italian made machine. Purchased from Cimolai Technologies, assembly is expected to take four weeks and commissioning a further seven days.

Council staff and fishing industry representatives are also suggesting another wharf could be built within the precinct by private landowners.

Phil says the first purchaser has settled the purchase of lot 12 and is in the process of relocating.

Major tenants for the precinct include Hutcheson Boatbuilders, which remains on the site it has occupied for 18 years. Pachoud Yachts will be moving around from the shed in Cross Road, Sulphur Point, where they have been specialising in composite power cats over recent years.

The $10.4 million marine precinct project is to replace the 600-tonne slipway, disassembled in 2007 and sold to Nuku'alofa to make way for the construction of the second harbour bridge.