KEY POINTS:
Manapouri Power Station in Fiordland, Black Magic and Auckland's Grafton Bridge have been named the country's greatest engineering achievements.
Auckland University engineering graduates voted these projects the country's three best. The university polled 600 former students - one of whom graduated in 1949 - to get their views on the country's most adventurous engineering feats.
Two other Auckland projects came in for their share of praise. The Sky Tower and Auckland Harbour Bridge together pulled 8 per cent of the votes.
But the Manapouri project - the country's largest hydro-electric power station, set deep underground in Fiordland National Park - won the day. The station, which took from 1964 to 1972 to build, was voted a massive feat of civil engineering.
Most of the station, including the machine hall and the first 10km tailrace tunnel, was built underground.
Black Magic, or NZL32, the yacht sailed by the late Sir Peter Blake and Team New Zealand to win the 1995 America's Cup race, was the second most popular choice for its leading engineering and design technology.
And Grafton Bridge - believed to have been the biggest reinforced-concrete arch bridge span existing when it was completed in 1910 - was the third most popular choice.
Professor Peter Brothers, dean of the engineering school, said the survey was held to mark the school's centenary this weekend and engineers were surveyed about the top achievements of the past century.
He said the school had produced more than 12,000 engineers since it was founded in 1906 and this group had underpinned the country's growth in many industries.
Another project which pulled votes was the William Clayton Building in Wellington, the world's first base-isolated building, erected in 1982.
It was designed to withstand earthquakes using lead and rubber bearings as an isolator and energy absorber.
Engineers also backed Richard Pearse's aeroplane, the Raurimu Railway Spiral, the high-voltage DC link between the North and South Islands, John Britten's motorcycles, the McLaren F1 Supercar, the electric fence, Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and the Taranaki gate as significant engineering achievements.
* The university's engineering faculty at 20 Symonds St wants the public to visit and is open tomorrow from 9am to 3pm.
600 engineers cast their votes like this:
Manapouri Power Station 12 per cent of votes.
Black Magic NZL32: 11 per cent.
Grafton Bridge: 9 per cent.
Wairakei Geothermal Power Station: 9 per cent.
Jet boat: 8 per cent.
Sky Tower: 5 per cent.
Auckland Harbour Bridge: 3 per cent.
