The historic SA Water site at Thebarton earmarked for an 'Urban Forest' gets a facelift
The historic SA Water site at Thebarton has served as a depot and office space since 1879. Ready for a revamp, McMahon Services was contracted to demolish all existing structures and remediate the former Depot, with the site earmarked for the development of an ‘Urban Forest’.
The State Government’s plan was to create a contemporary woodland park setting using Indigenous species and sustainable landscape principles. The parklands will serve as a new community space where the public can enjoy a variety of amenities all powered by renewable energy, through solar lighting and a wind generator and all water will be collected and re-used on-site.
For McMahon Services, initial works included the demolition of existing structures and the decommissioning of services. Two repositories totalling 22,000m3 and 8,000m3 were then excavated to stockpile and the team began a staged excavation of contaminated material to backfill the repositories. The clean material excavated from the repositories was then placed on top of the contaminated material, creating a landscaped mound.
Following the remediation of the site, the civil scope also included the installation of stormwater drainage and management infrastructure including concrete pipes and headwalls, earth swales and retention basins. Oversize rock was won by screening existing site material and recycled by placing into the newly constructed swales and the retention basins.
Effective environmental management was critical, with the site in close proximity to a local school, busy intersection, and local businesses and residents. With more than 1,200 truck movements off-site, McMahon Services took every measure to minimise drag-outs and dust pollution to the surrounding community and disruption to traffic flows.
After preparing the site, landscaping works began on the construction of rubble walking trails, top soiling on repository mounds and tree drip zones and creating gabion seating structures.
The project will also include a new bikeway that links the Westside Bikeway with the River Torrens Linear Park and when used with Coast Park path, will create a 20 kilometre Loop around the CBD.
The park is due to open mid-2013.
