Stead Street Stop Bank is a finalist project in the Environment & Sustainability category of the 2023 Asset Management Excellence Awards.
Improving Invercargill’s climate resilience through the strengthening and raising of seawall and stopbanks along Stead Street and Cobbe Road. Partially funded by MBIE’s Climate Resilience Programme the project provided regional economic stimulus during the Covid pandemic as well as strengthening community and cultural relationships.
In March 2016, a phenomenon known as storm surge caused the sea to spill onto Stead Street, resulting in road closures and surface flooding of the land surrounding the Invercargill Airport. Stead Street provides the only transport link to the airport and connects the suburb of Ōtātara with Invercargill’s CBD and emergency services. To provide for climate change resilience the City Council with “shovel ready” funding from MBIE installed approximately 1,700 sheet piles (1km of sheetpile wall) and raised and strengthened 2 km’s of the existing Cobbe Rd stopbank. It is a site of cultural significance for the Waihopai and wider Murihiku Runaka broader outcomes have been achieved include strengthening the partnership between the community and the Waihopai Runaka promoting greater sharing of local cultural knowledge. Completing the new infrastructure has provided the opportunity to improve the community amenity and recreation value through 2.0km of landscaped shared pathways connecting the Airport, City and Ōtātara.
With thanks to our category sponsor Morphum Environmental.
