Barry Curtis Park in Manukau is still being developed but has already won design and management awards. Photo / The Aucklander
Manukau's biggest new park has won three landscape awards.
Barry Curtis Park received a gold award for its Wetland Playground at the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects 2008 awards.
It also won two silver awards, one for design and the other for project management.
The Isthmus Group
is establishing the park for Manukau City Council.
A Manukau City Council publication aimed at restoring native plants in the city also received a Supreme Award.
Manukau Parks group manager Digby Whyte said the awards were recognition of the hard work by the council and contract staff.
The 94ha park, which is being developed in the new suburb of Flat Bush northeast of Manukau City Centre, will be bigger than the Auckland Domain.
The first stage is due to open early next year. Other stages will open over the next eight years.
Features will include a multi-sports complex, sports fields, a playground, a picnic area with covered facilities, wetlands with ponds and boardwalks, an education centre, sculptures and recreation areas.
The council began planning for Flat Bush in 1997 after buying the land the year before. About 15,000 people have moved into the area in the past three years.
By 2020 the suburb is expected to be home to more than 40,000, a similar size to Whangarei.
The development will include a new town centre, access to public transport and up to seven new schools, including a college.
