Bridge builders bask in accolades

From left, project manager Mark Seakins, project manager Trevor Griffiths, McConnell Dowel's Kristian Nelson, WDC group manager Simon Weston, WDC chairman of Lower Hatea Crossing Working Group and Infrastructure Services Committee chairman councillor Greg Martin. Photo / Supplied

An engineering team behind the design of Whangarei's $32 million bridge has more feathers in its cap after taking out additional national and international accolades.

Six organisations have been recognised in the London-based Structural Awards 2014 - run by the Institution of Structural Engineers in conjunction with The Telegraph newspaper - with first place in the small practices section.

The bridge has also won the supreme and transportation infrastructure awards in in this year's New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards, which were announced on Friday.

"It has been a great success all round, providing the service our community needs, in the way it is designed to, as well as creating a great point of difference for our district," Whangarei District Council group manager Simon Weston said.

"It's a great piece of infrastructure - innovative and great to look at. It's a piece of functioning art."

The awards come hot on the heels of council reissuing a warning to boaties the Te Matau a Pohe bridge may be closed for periods days over 26C, as steel expansion means it could potentially jam.

Because it was such an innovative piece of infrastructure, it was possible engineers were going to encounter the occasional glitch such as steel expansion in hot weather, Mr Weston said.

"It's something we are working through currently."

Engineering Excellence awards panel judge Peter Higgs said it was a pleasure to announce the team behind Te Matau a Pohe winners of the supreme award.

"It's a well-deserved accolade that we hope will also inspire others to continue to integrate excellence in design with New Zealand's unique cultural identity and ingenuity.

"It's an outstanding achievement," he said.