Motorway wins environmental award

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32838, 11 February 1972, Page 10

Motorway wins environmental award

The Ministry of Works has won the first Environmental Award, to be presented annually by the New Zealand Institution of Engineers, for the Wellington motorway between Ngauranga and Hill Street.

The award was announced at the annual conference of the institution in Ghrist- ; church last evening. The retiring president of the institution, Mr R. A. J. Smith (Auckland), is shown presenting the award to- the Commissioner of Works (Mr J. H. Macky), at left, in a ceremony in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre at the University of Canterbury. Mr Macky was given a bronze plaque which will be displayed in a suitable position on the motorway, together with a plate giving briefly the reasons for the judges’ choice. The judges were Mr Smith and the president of the Environmental Council (Mr R. K. Davison). They emphasised their conviction that the motorway was an outstanding example of a design in which care and attention had been given to environmental factors.

Where the motorway followed the harbour edge, care had been taken to give passengers commanding views of Wellington City and the harbour, the judges’ report said.

The appearance of the motorway had been softened for travellers on the Hutt Road, alongside, by pleasantly planted cribwalls and grassed areas. The lamp standards, signs, and other furniture of the motorway were simple, strong, and elegant. Landscaping and gardening had been designed to suit the environment.

The Thorndon overbridge dominated its locality, and was a strong and clear- design; and from Thorndon to Hill Street, with the motorway below-the ground level, extensive landscaping and gardening had been undertaken to merge the construc-

tion with its surroundings. The judges said that wellplanned, informal recreation areas and walkways made for a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere throughout the section. Over-all, the designers had achieved a very successful solution to the difficult problem of building a motorway along one of the major traffic routes in New Zealand. Individual certificates will be awarded to those who made a significant contribution to the project design. The motorway was selected from seven entries

for the award. Other entries included a heat-recovery module for removing unpleasant odours from freezing works rendering processes, the Whakatane River flood-protection scheme, a residential sub-division in Browns Bay, Auckland, and the Aviemore and Benmore power projects. The judges said that all the projects showed a conscious concern for environmental factors in their conception and planning. Mr Macky, in accepting the award on behalf of the Ministry of Works, said that

the project had been a team effort involving engineers, architects, town planners, landscape designers, surveyors, draughtsmen, technicians, and others. He said that one person should be mentioned—Mr H. A. Fullarton, then the Wellington District Commissioner of Works, and now the chairman of the Local Government Commission. It had been Mr Fullarton’s inspiration and thorough town planning and presentation which had won the National Roads Board’s approval of the project.