Maroondah City Council: Lake to Creek Project
Posted under: 1. Summary
The Lake to Creek Link provides a significant and innovative streetscape and drainage upgrade to Larissa Avenue, Ringwood. This project better connects the recreational paths along Ringwood Lake and Mullum Mullum Creek, and to the EastLink shared path network beyond. The project draws on the natural history of local waterways, as Larissa Avenue lies along the former path of Sandy Creek, delivering significant infrastructure improvements for the Ringwood neighbourhood through highly creative and innovative design, drawing attention to Victoria’s water conservation issues, and showcasing a sustainable outcome to retain and clean groundwater before it enters the stormwater system.
2. Project Description
Objective:
To provide a functional solution to flooding issues facing residents of Larissa Avenue, a local street within Ringwood, as well as delivering the Masterplan vision for pedestrian and recreational safety and connection within the Ringwood Municipal Activities Area (RMAC).
Outcomes:
The Lake to Creek Link Project provides a high amenity recreational circuit for walking and cycling in and through Ringwood by better connecting previously disconnected series of paths. The project also delivers significant infrastructure improvements through a highly creative and innovative Water Sensitive Urban Design which cleans groundwater before it enters the stormwater system. The project incorporates a community park which engages with the residents of the street through the provision of a community garden. The garden strengthens the community bond between the residents within the street and serves as a communal meeting place. This has been a highly successful outcome which is evidenced by the lack of vandalism and graffiti that once pervaded the space. A kinetic lighting installation within the underpass near the park has converted a once dark and oppressive space into an exciting and engaging experience. An exhaustive array of programmable lighting effects is triggered as pedestrians and cyclists move through the space. Cyclists, pedestrians and locals go out of their way to experience the installation. The Lake to Creek Project has transformed not only the visual nature of the area but changed how locals view their neighbourhood and themselves as well as changing perceptions of the area. It is for these reasons that the Lake to Creek Project is an outstanding success.
Innovative features:
The Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) element of the Lake to Creek Link project, in the form of the open swale at the eastern side of Larissa Ave, aids in the management of stormwater and ground flow water collected from Maroondah Highway and surrounds, which prior to the project, caused major flooding issues for the residents of Larissa Avenue. The Larissa Underpass lighting works is a great example of turning a dark, intimidating precinct into an interesting, dynamic and even social space. The use of colour changing LED’s in combination with the lighting control system has transformed a pedestrian thoroughfare. Larissa Park, a community park at the northern end of Larissa Avenue, was achieved by Council’s purchase of the land. The park aids in pedestrian movement from Larissa Avenue, by creating safer site lines into and out of the underpass which connects this path to the adjoining shared path networks beyond. The new park also embodies many aspects of a traditional community garden without the formal ownership agreement, everyone is welcome to use and tend to this space.
Distinguishing features of the project or service highlighting Best Practice Engineering Principles and technologies:
- A highly prominent feature of the project was the departure from traditional road design by elevating the status of bike/pedestrians and residential function above those of traditional road users
- The installation of pedestrian operated signals served to connect Larissa Avenue with the adjacent Ringwood Lake across a main arterial roadway
- By reducing vehicular speed limits the road carriage width was reduced permitting the integration of WSUD. This resulted in the capture and redirection of surface water run-off mitigating the existing flooding issues along the street
- Unique drainage design, enabling the maximum possible levels of stormwater WSUD treatment, whilst also catering for detention in minor storm events
- Custom design kerb and crossovers incorporating natural river rock provided not only an aesthetic value but aided in regulating surface water flow rates controlling the volume of water entering into detention basins
- An extended defects and maintenance periods ensured the establishment of the WSUD and facilitated a staged handover from the contractor to Council’s maintenance officers with the benefits of the shared learning between the two parties
Benefit to the community of the project or service:
Larissa Park is within the Lake to Creek Link Project and is a space designed by Council with significant community input. Through a consultation phase, a strong desire for a community garden was expressed. Council responded to the need for a community garden through the introduction of a number of raised planter beds filled with a variety of herbaceous plants and surrounded by a number of fruiting trees. The community has adopted this space as their own by mowing the lawns, weeding the beds and watering the plants. However, as there is no formal ownership agreement, everyone is welcome to use and tend to this space.
Program and Project Management, highlighting how any barriers were overcome to achieve success:
The Lake to Creek Project had to overcome a number of barriers during design and construction to complete the project. These include:
- Change in scope: The initial project brief was for a simple streetscape upgrade which included a water feature. At the time Victoria was experiencing extreme drought which changed the focus. On further investigation into the street’s function it was discovered that there were issues of flooding due to poor drainage. These flooding issues could be mitigated by significant drainage upgrades to Council drains and their connection into Melbourne water drains. This also led to the incorporation of WSUD, a shared path and the undergrounding of services.
- Budget constraints: With changes to the project scope came budget implications. A number of funding applications were applied for and successfully received in order to fund all stages of works.
- Construction conflict: Not long after the commencement of the Lake to Creek project construction including the undergrounding of power, road realignment, relaying of footpaths and crossovers, major construction of a private 8 storey residential tower within the street also commenced. Council successfully managed ongoing communication with the private development to ensure both parties worked collaboratively to complete works on time and on budget.
Costs/ Benefits associated with the Project (where appropriate):
The Lake to Creek Link project is a $2.2 million dollar project funded by a number of internal and external partnerships these included the following:
The Federal Government (Grant $258,764)
The Department of Planning and Community Development (Grant $1,006,884)
Underground Powerlines Relocation Committee (Grant $149,550)
Melbourne Water (Grant $126,000)
The Maroondah City Council (Funding $676,699)
3. TEAM CONTRIBUTION
The collaboration between Council departments and funding bodies helped to ensure the best advice was received to assist in decision making. The project was managed by Council Senior Project Manager and Urban Designer, Anika van Langenberg from Council’s Major Project Department. Anika was able to ensure the works were undertaken in accordance with the approved design and specification. Her ability to work across Council was demonstrated throughout the project as the project team consisted of engineers, town planners, building surveyors, maintenance crew, safety officers and the communications and marketing team. These internal departments where able to work together and assist with the day to day decision making which resulted in no community complaints during project construction.
The project received a commendation in 2013 from the Illuminating Engineering Society for the lighting works within the Larissa Underpass and has been highlighted nationally through ABC TV’s Gardening Australia programme in a segment which aired on the 18th of August 2012. Council was approached by Gardening Australia to film the Lake to Creek Link project as the results and transformation to the street were highly regarded by the programmes’ host and deemed a significant urban design outcome.
4. General Comments
The Lake to Creek project was competed over 6 stages and included significant community involvement and feedback. Following its inception in 2007, the project’s final look and form was largely due to the community’s wants and needs for the area. The main community concerns for the area, and issues to be addressed by the project were:
- better connection to recreational paths,
- pedestrian crossing over Maroondah Highway and
- ongoing drainage issues for the street, impacting on dwellings.
Stage 1 & 2 of the project looked at dealing with connections by incorporating the under-grounding of powerlines and services along Larissa Avenue. This enabled the streetscape upgrade works involving civil and landscape elements, including a 2.5m wide shared path and WSUD works, which mitigated the residential drainage issues. The traditional two-way residential street was converted into a negotiated one-way street to slow and clam traffic, promoting pedestrian movement throughout the area.
Stage 3 A community park at the northern end of Larissa Avenue was achievable through Council’s purchase of the land. The park aids in pedestrian movement from Larissa Avenue, by creating safer site lines into and out of the pedestrian underpass which connects Larissa Avenue to the adjoining shared path networks beyond. The new park also incorporates fruits, vegetables and herbs in raised planter beds and fruiting trees planted throughout.
Stage 4 Underpass lighting upgrade, which involved the installation of white LED luminaires mounted to the roof of the underpass, replacing the existing florescent tubes encased in cages which allowed for facial recognition and safety. The mounting technique used for these LED’s allows them to be concealed and hard to get to, therefore ensuring their longevity. To add to the creativity of this project there were also a number of coloured LED’s mounted on either side of the underpass which are triggered via motion sensors to aid in safety and also give an alluring and captivating quality to the underpass. The coloured LED’s are an aesthetic feature which displays 100’s of different lighting sequences when triggered.
Stage 5 Ringwood Lake Lighting: This project involves highlighting the Ringwood Lake and its infrastructure with feature cinematic up lighting to two of its prominent trees beyond
Stage 6 The pedestrian crossing at Maroondah Highway from Larissa Avenue to Ringwood Lake allows pedestrians to safely cross at this point and completes the final connection between the lake and the creek. This formalised crossing was a much needed addition to assist with pedestrian and cyclist safety and achieves links to the existing shared paths and the paths beyond.