A suspended boardwalk on steep, unstable stream banks, carried by long-span steel beams on piles up to 11 m deep.
- Client
- Auckland Council
- Services
- Structural engineering design
- Location
- Rewarewa Creek, New Lynn, Auckland
- Scale
- 114 m boardwalk · piles to 11 m
- Status
- Complete 2018
01 / Project overview
The brief
After the culvert under Great North Road was repaired, the Whau Local Board and Healthy Waters took the chance to improve the area around Rewarewa Creek in New Lynn. A new pocket park sits over the new high-capacity culvert outlet, and a 114 m boardwalk follows the creek bank to McNaughton Way and a shared path to Great North Road.
We provided the structural engineering design, working closely with the main contractor so the design was buildable as well as attractive.
02 / Our approach
How we delivered it
Difficult ground and steep banks
The creek banks are steep, the soil is unstable and access to the site was limited. Those constraints shaped both the structure and how it would be built.
Deep piles, long spans
We founded the boardwalk on large reinforced concrete piles extending up to 11 m below ground level. Long-span steel beams carry the suspended deck between them, so fewer piles are needed on the unstable banks and the structure barely touches the creek edge.
Durable, open decking
The deck is fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) mesh. It won’t rot or corrode in a wet stream environment, and the open mesh lets light and rain through to the bank below.
03 / The outcome
“A new public walkway and pocket park that turned a repaired culvert into a better connected, more attractive creek edge for New Lynn.”
04 / Gallery
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