Sylvia Park pedestrian link

During the latter part of the construction of the New Zealand’s first IKEA, our Projects & Interiors team started building a 140 metre long covered walkway to take shoppers safely from Sylvia Park, over a road and railway line to IKEA’s front door.

The key client drivers were to maintain public safety, minimise disruption, and get the job done before IKEA opened. The pedestrian link was a masterclass in engineering and collaboration, with our team working with multiple stakeholders to develop a methodology to prefabricate eight covered walkway pods and two pedestrian bridges. Each section was designed with transport and installation in mind, right down to lifting eyes and temporary braces that could be removed without leaving a trace, with precise measurements to allow for the varying levels of the inclined roadway. Even the truck beds needed to be altered to take the load, with the modules weighing up to 50 tonnes.

We installed each module during meticulously planned overnight crane lifts, with timeframes agreed well in advance with KiwiRail and centre management.

Our methodology allowed for minimal disruption across multiple live environments and meticulous quality control, and improved safety for both the construction team and the public. Completing the enabling works on site while the sections were prefabricated off site ensured that we delivered a fully integrated, high-quality pedestrian connection a month ahead of IKEA’s grand opening, setting a benchmark for complex, out of the box construction projects.