Taumanu Reserve– Onehunga Foreshore Restoration Beaches and Dunes
Auckland, New Zealand Taumanu (Taāumanu) Reserve is a recreational park created in 2015 on land reclaimed from the Manukau Harbour in Auckland’s southwest. The project was executed by the Auckland Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency and planned by the environmental and engineering consultancies, Tonkin & Taylor Limited and Aecom; landscape designs were executed by Isthmus. The head contractor, the New Zealand construction firm Fulton Hogan Ltd., provided the project management and construction services required to transform project designs into a reality. The creation of Taumanu Reserve was initiated and driven by a passionate and well-organized community wanting to restore the foreshore that was once accessible to them; the foreshore was cut off from the community when the state highway was built across the Onehunga Bay in the mid-1970s. Taumanu Reserve is composed of 6.8 hectares of new coastal reserve; nine beaches formed from either sand or gravel; 1.5 kilometers of shared use path; a gateway pedestrian footbridge over a motorway integrating reserves; a festival lawn for public events; a boat ramp; and a car park with toilet and shower facilities. The project won the World Architecture News Transport Award-2016 (for Taumanu Bridge) and the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Nzila Award of Excellence—te karanga o te tui (Māori design excellence)—2017.
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