The NZ Living development at Greenslade Cres, Northcote. Photo / Alex Burton
The NZ Living development at Greenslade Cres, Northcote. Photo / Alex Burton
It took nearly three years but it worked to plan when the heavens opened above Auckland in January.
While many parts of Auckland were overwhelmed, one massive new stormwater infrastructure project dealt with the water in a way that has earned high praise.
The lowered ground with its subterranean networkof engineering marvels at Northcote’s 1.5-hectare Greenslade Reserve did precisely what it was planned to do, says a developer who spent nearly $100 million on a site opposite that reserve.
While people lost their lives at the nearby Wairau Park, flooding in this part of Northcote was not fatal.
“This is new stormwater infrastructure working as it should,” said a delighted NZ Living chief Shane Brealey, showing photos taken on the North Shore sportsfield opposite the town’s main shopping centre.
NZ Living developer Shane Brealey. Photo / Alex Burton
That field between Greenslade Cres and Lake Rd often flooded. Like many reserves and sports fields in the city, water was not dealt with in an efficient, effective way.
Yet Northcote is getting a multi-billion-dollar urban regeneration, as state housing is being ripped down and replaced by apartment blocks to make better use of the land and help resolve long waiting lists.
More houses and less permeable areas mean more pressure on the stormwater system. More people arriving also means more use of green reserve areas.
So a number of Crown and territorial agencies collaborated to clean up the mess that used to be the not-so-fit-for-purpose muddy old Greenslade Reserve.
Brealey said during the January floods, water filled the reserve opposite his new $90 million nine-apartment block development, making it resemble a giant swimming pool.
Yet after the rain stopped, almost all the water had disappeared down enormous underground pipes and channels, fed by scruffy domes and other utilities designed to deal with deluges.
The flooding at Greenslade Park.
The first images show the reserve engulfed in floodwaters, but images taken shortly afterwards showed most of the water had disappeared into those vast new network systems created beneath the ground to deal with one in 100-year floods.
The upgrade was part of Te Ara Awataha, a new greenway for the area along the path of the historic Awataha Stream. The work is being led by Eke Panuku Development Auckland and Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities.
Before the flooding at Greenslade Park.
That work also created a new urban wetland to connect the community with its natural environment.
It also reduced the risk of flooding in the town centre, and brought the community a high-performance sports field, public toilets and an outdoor gym. It was a massive job, with the entire reserve surface being reduced in height to allow water to be caught until it could be drained from the fields.
That’s crucial for Brealey because NZ Living demolished 13 old wooden state homes to replace them with 129 apartments, which are brick-clad.
Those apartments sold out in three minutes in early 2021 because they were priced from only $500,000 to $600,000 in a city with an average house price of over $1m.
People started moving into them in November and a blessing was held on the site in March.
So no flooding means Brealey’s units between Matakiti St and Ko St are far better off, although the 1ha apartment land is a sloping site sitting above the reserve.
The sports field was shut from 2020 and the level of the fields dropped about one metre, to re-direct stormwater flows into the new wetland.
Craig McIlroy, Auckland Council Healthy Waters’ general manager, said the field acted as the perfect catchment during heavy rainfall.
“Rather than heavy rainfall flooding the town centre, as it has in days gone by, stormwater will flow through the new greenway, which starts at Jessie Tonar Scout Reserve - the source of the Awataha Stream,” Eke Panuku said of the work.
Richard Hills, a North Shore councillor, said the upgrade was the result of a collaboration between many different parties. Te Ara Awataha is being jointly delivered by Eke Panuku, Kāinga Ora, the council’s Healthy Waters team, the Kaipātiki Local Board and mana whenua.
