GEM Awards for Waterview Connection motorway project

The Well-Connected Alliance team, including Boffa Miskell’s Al Rigby (pictured left with Lesley Hopkins from Beca, and Ray Chang from the Well-Connected Alliance), has been recognised for ‘Going the Extra Mile’ on the Waterview Connection project at the NZ Transport Agency’s 2016 GEM Awards.

The GEM (Going the Extra Mile) Awards are a way of acknowledging outstanding examples of suppliers’ work on the NZ Transport Agency’s state highway network, which contribute to the Agency’s priorities and quality standards, including often unseen work with communities. The Well-Connected Alliance team won the ‘Connecting with our Community’ category for their collaborative design approach with the local community and the ‘Teaming Up’ category for hosting college students aspiring to a career in engineering. The Alliance’s community consultation team then went on to receive the Supreme Winner award out of the ten GEM finalists.

In connecting with the community, the team committed to genuine consultation, mostly outside normal working hours, over an extended eighteen-month period. The adversarial atmosphere at the initial fortnightly community meetings was turned around through the open, consistent and systematic approach the team adopted to addressing concerns via forums such as the Community Design Group (covering general and Architectural aspects of the project) and more specialist groups such as the iwi / heritage group, the BMX / skate working group and the playground working group.

Boffa Miskell brought Landscape Architecture and Urban Design expertise to the consultation process, alongside the Alliance’s consenting and communications teams. Sub-consultants Warren and Mahoney assisted with Architectural aspects. The outcome was an environment of mutual respect and collaboration that ultimately led to increased community trust, a sense of ownership in the project, and better informed design outcomes.

“Engaging with the community early, and workshopping ideas in an open fashion without presenting finished designs is fundamental to this process,” says Boffa Miskell Landscape Architect, Al Rigby. “The starting point needs to be getting to know the key community contacts and understanding what their aspirations might be.

“It’s important to recognise the fact that the local community care more than anyone about their place, and that they ultimately know it better than you do. If you can find a way to combine their knowledge with your design skills, you’ll find better outcomes for all.”

It was through this consultative process that Boffa Miskell contributed to developed design aspects of all hard and soft landscape works on the Waterview Connection project, including extensive planting works, stream realignment and restoration, motorway structures, footpaths and shared paths, integration of heritage elements, artworks, two skate parks, a BMX track and a playground. Boffa Miskell then undertook the detailed design, tender documentation and construction phase support of these aspects.

The GEM awards build on the Best Practice Award received from the New Zealand Planning Institute by the same team earlier this year for co-designing the Waterview playground with children from Waterview Primary School.