W
oolacotts are pleased to announce their involvement in the award-winning Notts Avenue Safety Upgrade in Bondi, Sydney. On the 9th of June 2021 our friends at Tract Consultants took out the Award of Excellence in Civil Landscape for this project in the National chapter of this year’s AILA Landscape Architecture Awards.
Our Team were honoured to be engaged by Tract Consultants, who were the Landscape architects and project lead for design services on this project. Woolacotts provided Civil and Structural engineering design expertise, as well as services during the construction of the upgrade.
As stated by the AILA Awards Committee:
The level of detailing and material choice allows the project to nestle effortlessly into this iconic environment. The material choices reflect the sand, sea and wind in a complementary yet playful way. The project’s simple elegance is exceptional given the site’s complexity and the highly technical nature of a road project.
Watch the full AILA Landscape Architecture Awards virtual presentation here:
About Notts Avenue
Notts Avenue is located along the iconic Bondi clifftop walk to the south of the beach overlooking the landmark Iceberg Pool. As part of Waverley Council’s proposed ‘Walking Strategy’ to improve the pedestrian access to popular destinations throughout the LGA, Notts Avenue was identified as a priority as it is one of the main access ways to Bondi Beach via the Coastal Walkway.
The proposed upgrades included:
- A 10km/h shared zone including removing existing kerb, gutter, footpaths and new paving installed throughout
- New light poles
- A cantilevered lookout platform
- A shade structure
- Upgraded balustrades along the cliff face, designed to act as a vehicle barrier
- Marked car spaces including an accessible zone for drop-off at the Iceberg’s restaurant
Civil and Structural Innovation
Our Civil and Structural teams worked closely with Tract Consultants and QMC Group to deliver high quality engineering services on this project.
Civil contributions focused on the proposed road carriageway, which was identified as one of the main design obstacles in this project due to a requirement for it to manage overland flow in a major storm event. In response, the project team:
- Analysed the cross-sectional capacity of the carriageway at critical locations to which road cross fall grades were manipulated to cater for overland flow. This resulted in non-compliant cross-fall grades along the shared zone with regards to accessibility.
- Developed a compliant drop-off zone at the Icebergs restaurant.
- Worked closely with QMC Group during the construction phase to ensure the design grades were achieved, particularly where change in grades were required.
Our Structural team focused on developing a design solution for the proposed crash proof barriers. These barriers needed to satisfy strength, durability, aesthetics and remain economically viable. To overcome this challenge, the project team:
- Removed the existing balustrades and replaced these with new crash proof barriers that did not need to rely on the existing sandstone retaining walls for support.
- Opted for stainless steel members over timer or galvanized steel alternatives. The use of stainless steel in this coastal environment will provide better durability and reduced future maintenance costs over other alternatives.
- Nominated the use of tapered “I” beam shaped barrier posts to overcome yield strength issues at the post base whilst reducing the overall material costs and improving aesthetic appearance.
- Nominated the thickening of the slab on ground at the southern portion of Notts Avenue to support barrier post loads without the need for independent footings, reducing overall construction costs
Woolacotts were proud to be involved in the development of this high-quality community focused project. We congratulate the inspiring team at Tract Consultants on their success in this year’s AILA Landscape Architecture Awards.
For more information on AILA and the Awards visit www.aila.org.au/awards
To learn more about our community infrastructure projects, visit our projects page here.
