By ANNE BESTON
An Auckland school won gold at the landscape design awards ceremony in Christchurch last night.
Although Wellington, Taranaki and Christchurch walked away with the top prizes, winning supreme awards for Oriental Parade, Taranaki Wharf and an Avon River garden respectively, Meadowbank School won gold for its "Environment Trail" set
in a previously unused gully.
The awards are held every two years to recognise outstanding projects by landscape architects, designers and landscape contractors throughout the country.
The school began clearing the gully three years ago, transforming a no-go zone that had been used as a rubbish tip to a leafy outdoor amphitheatre filled with birdsong and native plants.
Designer Boffa Miskell helped create the network of paths that meander beside the small stream at the bottom of the gully, with flax and native shrubs replacing privet and other weeds.
A half-circle of natural rock benches has created a natural amphitheatre which is sometimes used for assemblies and visiting speakers.
Another feature is the part-excavation of a bank showing rubbish still embedded in the soil. "We thought the children might like to see how long it lasts," principal Peter Ayson said.
The school was a gold award winner in the sustainability section of the awards, which attracted 110 entries from around the country.
The Supreme Award was not without controversy but in the end Wellington's Oriental Parade redesign was described as a "superb amenity" for central Wellington that was a model for "complex design-led projects with a recreational and amenity focus".
The judges had debated the question of creating artificial beaches - a key part of the Wellington waterfront revamp - but decided that because the sand came from roadworks and the beach was one of the most heavily used areas of the waterfront redesign, it deserved a top prize.
