Like probably many of you, I have a lot of memories of driving across the old single lane Kopu Bridge on the way to or from holidays on the Coromandel Peninsula. My family have a batch at Whangamata so we travelled down fairly frequently however it seems like we were always either lucky or just smart enough not travel at peak times as I can’t recall ever being stuck in some of the infamous holiday traffic jams.
Construction of the old bridge started back in 1927 so at over 90 years old, had survived quite long
One of the unique features of the bridge was the swing section that could be opened to allow large boats to pass through.
And I always used to laugh at the passing bays that were built in.
Of course things all changed in late 2011 when the new Kopu Bridge opened providing two-lanes for vehicles as well as a pedestrian and cycle path.
But for a while now the question has been what to do with the old bridge. The NZTA announced earlier this week that they had finally come to a decision and that the bridge would be de-constructed knocked down. Here is the press release:
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) announced today that the old Kopu Bridge will be deconstructed and a key part of its history will be preserved.
NZTA Regional Manager, Harry Wilson, says the decision is the only viable option left for the bridge, as no financially sound funding plan to retain the old bridge in its current location was put forward by interested parties during the consultation process.
“The feedback we received during the consultation period confirmed that the weight of public opinion is in favour of demolishing the old bridge. However, the bridge’s historic swing arm will be retained for present and future generations to enjoy.”
Mr Wilson says that an open day will be held prior to the start of deconstruction so the local community will have a last opportunity celebrate its history.
In its public consultation over the past year, the NZTA has engaged widely with key stakeholders, including the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT), interest groups and local communities to evaluate options for the fate of the old Kopu Bridge. A publicity campaign inviting feedback from the public about their views on the future of the old bridge was undertaken by the NZTA during February and March this year. The majority of submitters – 69% – supported demolition of the old bridge.
Formal Expressions of Interest (EOI) for adaptive re-use of the bridge were sought, by initiating a nationwide publicity campaign. This call for Expressions of Interest in September 2012, attracted a number of proposals for the old bridge’s future. Of these, the Historic Kopu Bridge Society Inc.’s proposal was identified as suitable for further development into a business case. The Society presented its business case to the NZTA in May 2013, and asked the Agency to transfer ownership of the bridge to the Society, to enable the restoration of the bridge for walking and cycling only.
However, Mr Wilson says the NZTA’s evaluation of the business case indicated that the Society had either not taken into account or sufficiently estimated the costs associated with a number of the activities required for the safe and sustainable future operation and maintenance of the bridge. “The reality is that it would cost about $2.3M to upgrade the bridge to safely use it for walking and cycling, plus around $250K every year to maintain it.”
“We applaud the efforts of the Society’s members in trying to find a way to preserve the bridge for future use and acknowledge how disappointing this decision must be for them and others who share their vision, including the NZ Historic Places Trust. However, it was made very clear throughout the consultation process that any business case would need to identify a robust source for the significant funding required for the bridge’s long-term future. No proposals received – nor the Society’s business case – achieved this aspect,” says Mr Wilson.
Hauraki District Council Mayor John Tregidga commented: “Although it would have been great to have kept the historic Kopu Bridge, we were adamant that its significant ongoing maintenance should not be a cost to our ratepayers, and, as no viable funding option to retain the bridge has been found, we support NZTA’s decision to demolish it. We will now work with TCDC and the local community on what the best option is to retain the centre span,” Mayor Tregidga says.
Thames Coromandel District Council Mayor Glenn Leach commented: “This will be a great disappointment to The Historic Kopu Bridge Society, however we understand from NZTA’s decision the Society’s business case was not a viable one. We’ve always said from day one we would only support an option that didn’t put any more financial pressure on our ratepayers, now and in the future. We’ll now focus on collaborating with all agencies and stakeholders, along with the community to look at the best place to relocate the swing arm of the bridge,” Mayor Leach says.
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) has just been advised that NZTA has made a decision to demolish the historically significant Kopu Bridge, near Thames.
The Kopu Bridge is registered Category 1 by the NZHPT as a place of special and outstanding historical heritage significance and value.
The NZHPT had been working with NZTA, and encouraged them to seek expressions of interest proposals for the bridge’s retention and adaptive re-use. A number of proposals were received, and the Historic Kopu Bridge Society was selected to further develop their proposal into a business case. NZTA has assessed the Society’s business proposal, which they do not support – and has therefore decided to demolish the bridge.
“The NZTA decision is not a good heritage outcome and we are seeking further information to better understand the NZTA’s decision and how that was arrived at,” says the NZHPT’s General Manager Northern, Sherry Reynolds.
Kopu Bridge is nationally significant as the only surviving road bridge of swing span type in the country. At the time of its completion in 1928, the structure was technologically advanced – particularly in its use of deep piles to counteract a soft riverbed and strong tidal currents – and was also one of the largest public works projects carried out at the time.
“The NZHPT remains committed to working with the community and NZTA to see if it is possible to achieve some positive outcomes for this nationally significant and iconic example of industrial heritage,” Ms Reynolds says.
No date has been set by the NZTA for the deconstruction of the Bridge. Before this work can begin, a number of steps must first be carried out:
- Various consents need to be applied for and obtained from Hauraki District Council, Thames Coromandel District Council and Waikato Regional Council.
- Engagement with stakeholders will be undertaken, including the Historic Places Trust and Councils, to identify options for placement of the swing arm.
- Consultation with the community will also be required regarding the final placement of the swing arm.
- A competitive tender process will be undertaken for the contract to carry out the removal of the structure and placement of swing arm.
- The contract for the deconstruction project will be awarded and a contractor will need time set up on site.
- A community open day will be held once the site is ready and secured for this public event.
- Following the open day, deconstruction will begin.
“Because there are so many steps to be undertaken, at this stage we cannot give a date for deconstruction of the bridge,” says Mr Wilson. “However, we would expect this process to take anywhere from six months to a year.”
“We’ll make sure the community is made aware of the open day date once this is confirmed and we look forward to working with them to ensure the installation of the swing arm provides a suitable memorial to an icon which has been part of people’s lives and holidays over many years.”
They also provided this background information.
With the opening of the new Kopu Bridge in December 2011, the old Kopu Bridge is no longer required as part of the state highway network. The NZTA cannot continue to fund any future maintenance or upgrade of the old bridge, because it is no longer needed as part of the State Highway network.
Over the past year, the NZTA has engaged widely with key stakeholders (including both of the local councils and the NZ Historic Places Trust) and local communities to evaluate options for the fate of the old Kopu Bridge.
An independent consultant was engaged by the NZTA to facilitate the consultation process and to ensure that all possible options for the bridge were impartially considered and thoroughly evaluated.
Through initial consultation with key stakeholders, two options for the future of the bridge emerged:
- Finding a way to re-use and open up the old bridge for the public to enjoy, and transferring ownership of the bridge to a Trust/Incorporated Society (“adaptive re-use”).
- Demolishing the old bridge, but retaining the swing arm and creating a ‘bridge museum’ on land.
Formal Expressions of Interest (EOI) for adaptive re-use of the bridge were sought through a national publicity campaign to promote the EOI process.
The NZTA commissioned a Reuse Options Report which detailed the likely costs if the bridge was to be re-used, and this was provided to everyone who expressed an interest in submitting an EOI. The cost estimates in the Reuse Options Report were based on actual examples of other recent competitive tenders for State Highway bridge repair, inspection, repainting and maintenance contracts.
NZTA estimated that it would cost about $2.3M to upgrade the bridge to safely use it for walking and cycling, plus around $250K every year for maintenance. All of this funding would have to be raised by the community group or trust who took over ownership of the bridge.
- In November 2012 a public meeting was held in Thames to advise the local community about the process that had been undertaken and the options that were being considered for the bridge.
- A nationwide publicity campaign inviting feedback from the public about their views on the future of the old bridge was undertaken in February – March 2013. Submissions could be made either on-line or by post. One hundred and twenty-six responses were received. The majority of submitters to the public feedback process
- (69%) supported demolition of the old bridge.
In May 2013 the Historic Kopu Bridge Society Inc. presented a business case to the NZTA to transfer ownership of the bridge to the Society, with the intention of restoring the bridge and using it for walking and cycling.
- Throughout the consultation process, there has been ongoing dialogue with NZTA staff and representatives of the NZ Historic Places Trust. The NZTA recognises that its decision to deconstruct the bridge does not support the NZHPT’s position, which is to retain the bridge in its current location.
Following a thorough evaluation of the business case presented by the Historic Kopu Bridge Society Inc., the NZTA has decided that the funding plan presented by the Society is not financially viable or sustainable. The Society has either underestimated or not accounted for the costs of a number of activities related to the future operation and maintenance of the bridge for safe use by the public.
The Society’s proposed contingency plan regarding future responsibility for the bridge if the Society fails to secure sufficient funding to continue to maintain the bridge is also unacceptable to the NZTA. The Society has assumed that the NZTA would take over responsibility for the bridge if they fail and this is not appropriate, (for the reason outlined at the start of these editors’ notes).
The NZTA understands that the future of the old bridge is of considerable interest, not only to the local community, but also to national agencies, such as the NZ Historic Places Trust and IPENZ. However, because no viable, financially sustainable business case has been presented to retain the bridge in its current location, and because of the weight of public opinion in favour of demolishing the bridge (69%), the decision has been made to deconstruct the bridge and to retain the historic swing arm in an appropriate location for present and future generations to enjoy.
I can definitely understand the NZTA’s desire to get the bridge off their books, it certainly doesn’t appear t be of any use to them anymore but what do you think, should it be demolished? After it has been, do you think that the proposed retention of the swing arm?
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This is New Zealand where old things get demolished on an almost daily basis. New Zealanders, in general, have a profound distrust of history and an almost total lack of understanding of or interest in material culture history, unless, of course, it’s been Disneyfied.Over the decades, the NZHPT has proven unfit for purpose, so its ineffectual wittering in this case is about as likely to change the mind of the traffic engineers running the NZTA as I’m likely to change Gerry Brownlee’s view of public transport. Demolish the Kopu Bridge and let’s be done with the cant.
Seeing as it’s the last one we SHOULD destroy it right? Like Bethany House in Dryden Street.
It’s a shame our elected representatives aren’t more active in these things.
Cycleway Of National Significance anyone?
Sorry, I’m struggling to work out what on earth requires $2.3 million to upgrade the existing bridge for walking/cycling, and even more so to see why $250k per annum is needed to maintain it. They do realise that pedestrians and cyclists don’t actually weigh that much? As NZTA itself says on its website, the bridge remains structurally sound; the main reason for replacement is to improve capacity for peak holiday flows. Meanwhile they want to spend what will probably be a not insignificant amount to relocate the swingbridge to a land location…
It’s the old “we’d love to save it but we’ll invent a number that makes it impossible” trick. Property Developers use it too.
As kids we would go across that bridge to our bach a few times a year and we always had a competition- you have to take a deep breath before the car hits the bridge and hold it til you get back to land on the other side. Anyone do this?
However unlike a property developer NZTA surely have no vested interest in the bridge being demolished. It isn’t as if it’s in the way of them building a new highway or anything. So if they could get someone else to take it over that would surely save them the cost of demolition which would be in their interest.
Sounds like Historic Kopu Bridge Society Inc’s proposal left NZTA with an ultimate responsibility for the bridge if they failed which clearly NZTA weren’t going to accept. So if no one else would take ultimate responsibility for the bridge (the local council seems wouldn’t touch it) then that kind of sealed the bridges fate.
Think of it this way. You have a 50 year old black and white TV which you finally replace with a new one. You’re happy to give the old one away to a museum or heritage group but none are willing to take it on. Should you really be forced to keep it and pay the cost to have its valves replaced just because you took so long to get around to replacing it?
Barbarians.
Let’s demolish the NZTA instead.
That’s Great…Would be great to see the timber removed and taken to Waihi……….to prop up the ground underneath the homes…..I’m also unsure the whereabouts of the steel from the removal of the rail way tracks…..who melted the track down?….at least the melted steel is being put to good use, somewhere outside the country…
The new bridge is a great asset for the Coromandel….and to the men and woman who built it…you must be very proud.
IF it’s span is wide enough (& strong enough), the historic Swing Section of the old Kopu bridge should be re-purposed to carry the tram line over the Wynyard Crossing in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin. It would retain this apparatus as a working piece of history, and be a really good fit with the heritage trams on the waterfront. (could someone forward this to Mike Lee – he’s in a good position to progress this idea). :o) S.
How is it that so much cash is available to build new bridges or refurbish old rail bridges for cycle ways in the south island, but to use an existing bridge which is structurally sound we can’t find the cash?
Unfortunately, somewhat typical NZTA arrogance. Since the bridge is a Category 1 historic place it’s highly likely to be listed in (and therefore protected by) the Hauraki District Plan, As the press release says, various consents will be needed, and NZTA appears to be taking it for granted that the decisions will be in its favour. Unlike EPA Boards of Enquiry, that ain’t always so!
One of the things that I hope locals will challenge in any proceedings are the ongoing costs given by NZTA – as Glen K says, those figures need some careful scrutiny.
HDC can stop the bridge being knocked down, but they can’t make NZTA pay to maintain it. So instead of demolishing the bridge, NZTA opens the swing arm permanently, fences the bridge off, and leaves it there to rot? Is that really a better outcome?
Steve D – not necessarily, but options can be teased out through the resource consent process. The key thing is that whether to demolish is not in fact NZTA’s decision, despite their spin doctors carefully giving the impression that it is a done deal.
Unfortunately demolition by neglect will always be an option for owners that do not take their wider ownership responsibilities as seriously as some might like.
Good idea Mike, add to “To Do” list
– petition central govt for a ” no demo my neglect law”
In theory, sure, it’s not NZTA’s decision. But realistically, the council’s not going to let it sit there unmaintained.
As for your second part, I don’t think NZTA, let alone private owners, have a responsibility to pay to maintain something just because it’s become historic. If HDC or TCDC want to keep it, they need to pay for it. Both mayors are quoted above saying that they don’t want to.
Steve D – it’s not necessarily as black and white as either demolish it or HDC/TCDC own it. Assuming that the resource consent application is publicly notified and it follows the normal processes, independent commissioners come to a decision on the application (not on ownership), which can then further refined in the Environment Court, and can be subject to all sorts of conditions – and there may be funding/ownership options not yet identified.
So let’s see what comes out of the process, rather than follow NZTA’s inaccurate and misleading view of the situation.
Yes, NZTA have set everyone else up with (sadly typical for this bronze-age organisation) a very narrow set of conditions: either find a business model that ensures NZTA have extremely minimal contributions, or demolish it.
It’s entirely typical for an organisation that thinks that only cars and trucks have value as transport, and refuses to look at its responsibilities outside these. In the case of climate change, those responsibilities are rather large and being ignored.
There’s walking and cycling provision across the new Kopu bridge (in a segregated shared path). Potentially, the old bridge could be used to separate pedestrians and cyclists, but otherwise the only reason to retain the old bridge is for the heritage value, and running museums isn’t really NZTA’s job.
Demolish the old Kopu Bridge and relocate the swinging span near to the Western end of the new bridge to form part of the proposed cycleway to Kaiaua.