‘Temporary’ safety fencing to stay around harbour for years

Friday, 12 July 2024

“Temporary” barriers are here to stay for the next two years, at least.

Three years on from his son’s death, Roger Calkin is cynical about the council’s attempt to make the waterfront safer.

Sandy Calkin went missing after a night out on July 10, 2021 after a night out with friends. Seven days later the 30-year-old’s body was pulled from the water at Queen’s Wharf.

Since Sandy’s death, Calkin has been pushing for the council to put up balustrades like the ones in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter.

The council has now said the fencing put up for Homegrown and Matariki, outside Te Papa and along Queen’s Wharf, will stay up for two to three years until a more permanent design is developed.

Calkin said he wanted more details on the permanent design before he would feel reassured that changes were going ahead. The area had been flagged as a safety risk in council reports going back to 2016.

With the coronial inquest into Sandy’s death beginning next month, Calkin was suspicious that the council wanted to be seen to be doing something.

Sandy Calkin, left, and Isaac Levings, both died after falling into Wellington Harbour. Their grieving fathers want the area to be safer.

Since his son’s death he has watched temporary fencing for events go up and be taken down, leaving the waterfront unguarded most of the time.

When Christchurch teacher Isaac Levings died in tragically similar circumstances last year, Calkin believed the council had not done enough “to stop it from happening to somebody else”.

“The big thing for me is that they haven't actually done anything to investigate what happened, where he went, and then, should there be anything to be done straight away? They’re waiting for the coroner’s report … That’s three years.”

The council is designing a more permanent solution, says spokesperson Victoria Barton-Chapple.

Council spokesperson Victoria Barton-Chapple said the council was designing a more permanent solution but more information about what that might look like was not available.

“The waterfront is a much loved and increasingly well-utilised area of the capital, and Wellington City Council wants to ensure it is a welcoming place for all, at all times,” Barton-Chapple said.

The council had recognised and mitigated hazards in the past but the new sections of fencing would create safer and more well-lit spaces.

Charles Levings, the father of Isaac Levings who drowned in the harbour after The 1975’s concert last year, was more optimistic about the temporary fencing.

Roger and Maria Calkin have the coroner’s inquest into their son Sandy’s death coming up next month.

He was always worried that something similar could happen, particularly near Te Papa where Levings fell.

Neither Levings nor Calkin had heard from the council about the safety improvements they were making.

“I’m delighted the council has started to put up temporary stuff,” said Levings.

Last year, just months after Isaac drowned in the harbour, the council fenced off various parts of the waterfront which Fifa deemed unsafe, in the lead-up to the women’s world cup. The fences were later removed.

“The council put temporary safety barriers up, but it shouldn’t have been temporary. There are some real issues along the wharf and certainly where my son died.”

Two other people had fallen into the water on the day Levings died.

Sandy Calkin was captured on CCTV walking south past Shed 6 before he fell into the harbour.

Robert Owen, a local business owner, discovered that the temporary fencing would be made permanent through a customer service request to the council, where he asked for the temporary fences outside Te Papa to be taken down.

Originally the fencing had signs up saying “temporary fencing in place due to major events being held on the waterfront”, but it now looked like it would remain up for years.

A council staff member responded to Owen saying the fencing would remain up while the council completed a project to improve waterfront safety, which would take between two and three years.

“The safety of all people is a priority across all Council public spaces and places, and is something we take very seriously,” the staff member wrote.

Owen questioned whether the area needed fencing.

“While I deeply sympathise with families who have tragically lost loved ones to drowning in the harbour over the years, I believe that the harbour area from Te Papa to Queens Wharf is not so dangerous as to necessitate fencing,” Owen said.

He described the temporary fencing as “unsightly” and said the council should preserve the “beauty and enjoyment” of the harbour.

Councillor Iona Pannett said that after the “terrible tragedies” in the harbour over the past few years, “anything we can do to make the waterfront safer is good”.

In designing a permanent solution she hoped the council would be looking at international best practice for similar areas like Sydney’s waterfront.

Sydney’s Darling Harbour has a similar problem with drownings at the waterfront hotspot. Temporary fencing remains up in the area following a state coroner’s recommendation in 2020.

Calkin’s research has found that at least nine people have died in similar circumstances to Sandy.

Wellington’s dangerous waterfront

August 17, 2006: The body of missing student Daniel Hansman is found in Wellington Harbour.

February 16, 2010: Missing teenager Olivia Rutherford’s body is found near Chaffers Marina. Her bag and wallet are earlier found on the City to Sea Bridge by Whairepo Lagoon.

November 5, 2011: A pensioner is rescued alive from Wellington Harbour after slipping from Taranaki Wharf while waiting to see fireworks display. She is saved by a senior constable, hypothermic, in shock and near death.

April 6, 2012: A man is found clinging to Queens Wharf, believed to be minutes from death.

December 2, 2013: The body of Renee Anne Hudson, 35, is found floating in Wellington Harbour, by the East by West Ferry terminal.

July 5, 2015: Irishman Finbarr Clabby, 39, is found dead, fully clothed, under a footbridge in the Queen’s Wharf area.

Sept 26/27, 2016: Cory Ian Pearson, 26, drowns in Wellington Harbour by Queens Wharf. The inquest report cannot determine how he ended up in the water.

April 21, 2017: Police find a middle-aged woman's body in the water near Queens Wharf.

February 2019: Sarah Pauline Louise Mayne, 48, is found by Whairepo Lagoon, near Frank Kitts Park. The coroner rules her death was most likely due to falling in the water while intoxicated.

November 2020: Courtney Beck, 21, is rescued alive after falling into the water after a night out and hitting her head on a beam.

July 10, 2021: Sandy Calkin, 30, dies having fallen into the water near the East by West Ferry terminal. His body is recovered six days later. An autopsy rules he drowned.

April 21, 2023: Missing man Isaac Levings’ body is found two days after he was last seen after a concert.