Fight on to save City-to-Sea Bridge

Saturday, 22 June 2024

One of its original architects is among a group of Wellingtonians who say they'll chain themselves to the City-to-Sea Bridge to save it, if need be.

The landmark bridge –the city’s main pedestrian corridor between Civic Square and the waterfront at Whairepo Lagoon – is under threat after councillors voted against spending $230 million to strengthen it and the nearby Capital E building.

They instead opted to allocate $65m “to investigate other options, including demolition” of both structures, which one councillor said meant it was “basically a certainty some structures would have to be demolished”.

The bridge would be replaced with an “at-grade” pedestrian crossing.

Opened in 1993, the bridge was designed by architects John Gray and Rewi Thompson, with Para Matchitt commissioned to contribute artwork and sculptural elements.

Gray is one of those campaigning to keep it intact. Others include Neil Plimmer, a trustee and former chair of the Wellington Sculpture Trust, Lesleigh Salinger, an art historian and consultant and former CE of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and architect and urban designer Stuart Niven.

Issues surrounding the redwood bridge were first raised in 2009, when it was found that inadequate drainage had rotted some of the timber.

Strengthening work was done in 2010 and 2011. In 2018 an engineering report highlighted potential concerns with its structural integrity after it was found the piles were built to handle lower earthquake loads than the rest of the bridge.

However, the report was based on a “limited visual inspection” and it noted the “weak piles” could actually take the load off other parts of the structure in the event of an earthquake. There was nothing to show that earlier strengthening work had not been done correctly, hence it was expected the bridge complied with earthquake standards.

The group are calling for transparency around the information provided to the council on the structural inadequacies, and have questioned its economic arguments for getting rid of the bridge.

They say destroying it would be an act of vandalism – “destruction for destruction’s sake” – costly for already overburdened ratepayers and wasteful, “to say nothing of the gross insensitivity to Tangata Whenua”.

The fact the council was seriously considering demolishing the bridge had come as a “rude shock” and they were now planning to launch a save-the-bridge petition. As Salinger put it, “we are marshalling our forces”.

Architect Gray says the bridge is not only unique to Wellington, but to New Zealand and the world.

“It belongs to us all, and speaks to us all of our place, our turangawaewae. It provides access between the heart of the city and the heart of the waterfront … it is designed so all people whatever their culture can enjoy and feel comfortable meeting and being with others.”

Its demolition would be like “losing a brother”, he said.

Salinger also noted its status as a symbol of Wellington, and that it had been used to promote the capital to international visitors.

“People love the City-to-Sea Bridge. It’s a living sculpture [and] has become one of the signifiers of the city. It is part of the late Sir Ian Athfield’s vision of the civic centre [as] public space for all to share.”

Niven worked as an urban design consultant for the council from the late 1980s to 1999. He pointed out, as did Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk when announcing an overhaul of earthquake-strengthening laws this week, that most buildings in the CBD had become – or were in the process of becoming – an earthquake risk.

“All we can be really certain about is that there will be earthquakes and some of them, some time, will be large.

“Any decision to demolish a familiar and much-loved built element of the city’s central area because of what, you can be sure, will most likely be a conservative calculation of an arbitrary standard of risk – coupled with the fact that the decision-makers-on-our-behalf haven’t yet seen fit to provide us with a range of possible actions they might consider to mitigate that risk – would be a disappointing and disrespectful treatment of essential public information.”

From an urban design perspective, the bridge made a huge contribution to the physical and communal aspects of Civic Square, with Matchitt’s sculptural timber forms and totems emphasising its importance as a place of shelter and celebration, Niven said.

The council is currently preparing a development plan for the entire Te Ngākau Civic precinct. A spokesperson said a decision on the bridge was pending.

Notable moments:

2015/16: Named, separately, by veteran restaurateur Steve Logan and renowned photographer Anne Noble as their favourite public place

2012: Used in a scene for big budget Bollywood movie Players, which featured a car chase through the city.

2012: Occupy Wellington protesters set up camp on the bridge as part of global opposition against corporate greed sparked by New York's Occupy Wall Street movement.

2009: Performance of Drumstruck for the Fringe Festival by percussion group Taiko Drummers.

2006: A then 18-year-old Chris Gray attempts to jump from the 7m-high railing into the Frank Kitts lagoon, but loses his balance and plunges to the ground. He suffers two collapsed lungs and lower back injuries in the fall and spends four days in Wellington Hospital's intensive care unit. Speaking from his hospital bed two days later, the self-confessed adrenaline junkie says he wished he had never attempted the leap.

1996: Incorporated into Victoria University Students’ Association Drama Club’s Summer Shakespeare production of As You Like It. Site for the dawn launch of that year’s International Festival of the Arts.

1983: The Wellington Civic Trust runs a competition to encourage ideas for the use of the Wellington waterfront between the railway station and the former overseas passenger terminal. Following on from that, John Gray, Rewi Thompson and Paratene Matchitt come up with the City-to-Sea Bridge design.