Excavation and piling are moving on apace on the site of the New Zealand International Convention Centre. Around ten per cent of soil has now been removed, according to Group General Manager - NZICC Development and Tourism, Simon Jamieson.

"23,000 cubic metres of soil have been trucked from the site," says Mr Jamieson.

Since the Rio Olympics are in full swing, we did a quick timely calculation, and came to the conclusion that the equivalent of 9.2 Olympic-sized swimming pools full of earth had been removed and 62.8 were still to go.

Excavation and piling are taking place simultaneously before construction begins. The 280 piles are being installed around the perimeter of the site by Hauraki Piling's big rig.

Foundations would be built 25 metres to 30 metres beneath the ground surface on the sloping site.

See more about the excavation of the NZICC site in a recent New Zealand Herald article here.