4 minute read
Oriental Bay Foreshore Restoration
Wellington, New Zealand
Oriental Bay is one of Wellington’s most recognizable landmarks and the only beach readily accessible from the city center. The location is much loved by Wellingtonians and visitors alike. In response to the depletion of sand from the Oriental Bay beaches, the condition of the public amenities, and the increasing recreational demand from the inner city, Wellington City Council engaged the environmental and engineering consultancy, Tonkin & Taylor Limited (T+T), in 2001 to undertake the design, consenting, and construction supervision of the project.
The project focused on improving the beaches and the stormwater system using naturebased solutions; the public amenities were also upgraded. The beaches in Oriental Bay have now been enlarged, covered in golden sand, and—most importantly—are now dynamically stable. New public amenities have been constructed, including a pier, a sea platform, toilets and changing sheds, a refreshment kiosk, and a playground. The promenade has been widened and resurfaced, new seating and feature lighting installed, and the car-parking capacity has been increased. The flooding problems that occurred along Oriental Parade have also been overcome.
Article cover: View west along the main beach towards the city center. (Photo by Tonkin & Taylor)
Producing Efficiencies
A multidisciplinary team led by T+T was formed that included architects, urban planners, landscape architects, planners, and community communication experts to develop a design for the project and to manage the process. An interactive design process was established to ensure that solutions to the challenges that the unique location presented were design-led. The overall design objective was to enhance those values of Oriental Bay that naturally contribute to its popularity and ensure the project resulted in minimal visual intrusion. In the regulatory approval process, the proposed design received over 900 responses; only 4 percent were in opposition.
Using Natural Processes
The design challenge was to have no visible engineering structures but still have a stable and dry high-tide beach and improved catchment discharge via the stormwater network. The location of Oriental Bay—immediately adjacent to the inner city, on a major arterial road, and with relatively steep bathymetry—posed a number of design and construction challenges. The dynamic Wellington climate means Oriental Bay can experience wide extremes in weather, from calm days to northerly gales gusting well over 100 kilometers per hour, as well as two-and-a-half-meter-high waves.
A number of innovative nature-based solutions were used. These included forming a submerged sill along the steepest part of the nearshore area to prevent offshore sand loss; augmenting headland controls to retain sand within the beach and to divert stormwater through; installing offshore submerged breakwater to slow alongshore losses and provide improved ecological habitat, and designing sand gradings to reduce wind-blown losses.
Broadening Benefits
The success of the Oriental Bay Foreshore Restoration project is that visitors to the area today can see no sign of the engineering structures that underpin the enhancement works. The structures are a discreet part of the Bay’s improved natural character, facilities, and beach environment. There has been increased use of the space for public events, such as beach volleyball tournaments and fireworks displays, and public use of the now-dry beach area has increased dramatically, having a beneficial effect on the economy through the many restaurants and cafés that are adjacent to the Bay.
Promoting Collaboration
In addition to the broad multidisciplinary project team, a key feature of the project was the strong partnership forged between the project team and Wellington City Council. Throughout the project, the Council was involved in providing feedback on the design concepts and articulating Wellington residents’ requirements, including a specially formed community liaison group.
Community involvement was achieved through open days, presentations to boards and ratepayers’ associations, press releases, and a system to collect and respond to public feedback promptly through the design and construction process, whether the feedback was criticism or praise.
