14 April 2008

Barry Curtis Park wins landscape awards

Manukau's biggest new park, Barry Curtis Park in the new town of Flat Bush, has won three landscape awards.

The 94 hectare park, which is still being developed, will be bigger than the Auckland Domain.

The park received the following awards at the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects' (NZILA) 2008 awards for work done for the council by Isthmus Group:

Gold: Barry Curtis Park Wetland Playground (at Stancombe Road)
Silver: Barry Curtis Park Signature Areas design
Silver: Barry Curtis Park Project Management.

These follow the gold award received in 2006 for the Barry Curtis Park Regional Play Park design by Isthmus Group.

A Manukau City Council publication aimed at restoring native plants in the city also received one of this year's two Supreme Awards. The 'Restoring Our Native Plants' guidelines, carried out in conjunction with Boffa Miskell Ltd, received gold in its category and also a Supreme Award, the Charlie Challenger Award for Landscape Planning.

Manukau Parks group manager Digby Whyte says that the awards recognise the professionalism of his staff and their contracted landscape architecture firms and the relevance and excellence of the services delivered.

Barry Curtis Park will be at the heart of Flat Bush, which is expected to be home to more than 40,000 people by 2020. The park will be closely linked with Flat Bush's town centre, with the western part of the town centre surrounded by the park.

The park's key features include:

- Multi-sports complex, premier sports fields and training facilities
- Cultural lawn and an amphitheatre for large scale events
- Large theme playground
- Picnic area with covered facilities
- Wetlands with ponds and boardwalks
- An education centre
- Neighbourhood parks with community focused playgrounds and facilities
- Signature areas with characteristic tree plantings, sculptures and recreation areas.

The large park is part of Flat Bush's abundance of open space, which also includes 55km of protected natural gully and stream areas. This network of park-like areas, known as green fingers, link Barry Curtis Park to the residential areas of Flat Bush. Most houses are only five minutes walk away from a green finger.

The vision of the park is to create 'a regionally significant park that reflects the people and cultures of Manukau'.

The first stage of Barry Curtis Park is due to open early next year, with other stages opening over the next eight years.

Flat Bush recently won a gold award in the Environmentally Sustainable Project category at the International Awards for Liveable Communities in London.

For more details about the Flat Bush, please visit: http://www.manukau.govt.nz/flatbush

ENDS

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