National Precast member Waeger Precast has contributed to the Newcastle Memorial Walk, a new structure commemorating the sacrifices of ANZAC soldiers.
Waeger Precast supplied the precast concrete for the $4.5 million project to holding company Waeger Constructions, winner of the competitive tender to build the project. The company is based at Rutherford, in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, and specialises in small to medium-sized bridges, civil construction and precast products.
The raised walk stretches 450 metres with a 160-metre-long cliff-top bridge structure and connects Strzelecki Lookout to Sheppard’s Hill Reservoir at Bar Beach, NSW. The project includes seven precast pylons, which hold the bridge span above the cliffs. These “Y” shaped piers are up to 8.8 metres high, with a width at the top of 3.4 metres. The seven columns were manufactured with custom steel moulds and a sandblasted finish.
According to Managing Director of Waeger Constructions Michael Waeger, manufacturing the columns had its challenges.
“It was very important to achieve a high quality finish, the columns were manufactured from a coloured mix containing limestone aggregate, with quite a heavy sandblasted finish to accentuate the aggregate. Despite the sandblasted finish, attention to detail with the mould fabrication to prevent surface defects and mould leakage was very important to achieve the high quality finish. De-moulding and onsite handling was also an issue due to the columns being quite long slender elements,” Mr. Waeger says.
The company also manufactured viewing platform seats, made using the same concrete mix as the columns. With a polished finish, the seats are an impressive feature of the project. These seats were cast upside down in custom steel moulding. To avoid lifters in the seen faces, the seats were installed using an inverted lifting arrangement. Integrated LED lighting gives the impression at night that the seats are floating.
Other features include artwork cutouts at the beginning and end of the bridge, a stainless steel truss system, stainless steel handrails, a composite fibre deck and three viewing platforms.
Mr. Waeger says the Memorial Walk project is important in terms of what it represents. The Walk incorporates silhouettes of soldiers, with 3,860 family names engraved on them. These names represent almost 11,000 men and women from the Hunter Valley, known to have contributed to the World War One war effort. As well as commemorating the Gallipoli landing in 1915, the project also marks 100 years of steel making in Newcastle, which was established to provide steel rail to the war effort. In recognition of this link, BHP Billiton contributed $3 million towards the project, with another $1.5 million coming from Newcastle Council.
“This is such an significant undertaking, and a career highlight,” Mr. Waeger says.
“During my 25-year engineering career I have worked on some exciting projects, but I see this as being the pinnacle project to date. I am extremely excited and particularly proud to be involved in the Memorial Walk.”
The Memorial Walk is expected to become a major tourist attraction for the region after opening in April in time for the 100th anniversary of ANZAC Day.