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The town of the future is being built from scratch in New Zealand.
Pegasus, located twenty kilometres north of Christchurch on the pristine coastline of Pegasus Bay, is under development and will eventually be home to over 5,000 people.
It is New Zealand’s biggest property project, covering 340 hectares and housing 2,000 residential properties. The heart of the settlement will be a town centre containing a main street, town square and promenade. The centre also sits adjacent to the Pegasus pièce de résistance – a man-made feature lake with lagoon, swimming pools and central island.
Conceptual Drawing of Pegasus Town
In designing the four-metre-wide sidewalks for the centre’s main street, Pegasus developers requested the highest quality paving system available in a large format. Architects Boffa Miskell – in charge of master planning for the entire Pegasus township – ultimately settled on several pavers. The combination features Stonevue large format pavers, as well as Bluestone pavers and honed interlocking concrete block pavers.
Stonevue, provided by Pegasus Stage 8 principal supplier Horizon International, is manufactured and imported from Melbourne. It is a contemporary, robust paver with an ornate quality. Boffa Miskell landscape architect Phil Millar said that where other paving products were too rough in finish, Stonevue’s high quality shot-blast finish ensures longevity – a top priority for the developer.
‘But Horizon’s ability to provide a full package of supply, installation and a future maintenance regime was the clinching point,’ he said. ‘Especially given the fact that they stand by their product with a ten-year guarantee.’
The Pegasus paving is currently in place on the lakeside sidewalk of the town’s main street, which will be a thoroughfare to the lake, yacht club and lagoon. It is also on Motu Quay, a path that leads to a suspension bridge connecting the town to the lake’s feature island.
Conceptual Drawing of Pegasus Lagoon
The sidewalks use the Lerderderg Grey coloured Stonevue in various sizes, including 800 x 400 x 60 and 400 x 200 x 80 for vehicle use. The shot-blast finish ensures they all meet the required New Zealand standards for public slip resistance.
Mr Millar said that some initial concerns regarding the use of large format pavers with significant changes of level (300-400 millimetres over 10-15 metres) were quickly forgotten.
‘I was thoroughly impressed with the finished result, particularly in terms of cut lines’, he said.
‘The Stonevue is a very nice contrast to the surface finish of Bluestone and the concrete interlocking blocks,’ he added. ‘In fact, the whole paving is not something a lot of people would have seen before in New Zealand.’
In addition to their role as principal supplier, Horizon International also project managed the paving for Stage 8 of the Pegasus development.
Their experience of more than 40 years in the industry allows them to not only source, manufacture and supply the widest range of quality products, but provide added value and cost efficiencies to like contracts. An offering unmatched in New Zealand.
Hick Bros Civil Construction, the head contractor for stages 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11 of Pegasus, appointed the sub-contracting role to Horizon. Hick Bros CEO Mark Cole said he was impressed by the quality of Horizon’s past projects and posed that they not only provide the paving product for Stage 8, but also take on the role of project manager, covering full installation and future maintenance for the entire pavement contract.
‘I was impressed by their historic performance, including the quality of build, pricing, sourcing and supply of pavers’, he said.
Hick Bros completed all berm subgrades and Horizon modelled the sub-based metal and sub based-stratas. Horizon also laid out the pavers, poured the concrete, installed the pavers, and acid washed and sealed them, returning the project in a complete state.
Given just a thirteen-week timeframe to complete the 5,500-plus square metres of base preparation, pouring and paving, Horizon’s accomplishment marks a significant logistical achievement. Horizon International Managing Director John Roper said that Horizon used gangs of contractors from Christchurch and also Auckland.
‘There were logistical issues with using three different contracting companies,’ he said. ‘Particularly as the project involved a lot of long hours in a short timeframe, but everything was completed to deadline.’
Pegasus Main Street Paving
Mr Cole said that paving finishing around street furniture like lights and park benches can also be challenging, but Horizon completed the project to a level of quality that wowed stakeholders.
‘Horizon did an excellent job,’ he said, ‘without a doubt the best I’ve ever seen’.
‘They used full surveyor equipment to set out all paver joints from one end to another over 600 metres.’
‘I wouldn’t hesitate in using them again and I’m looking forward to working with them in further stages of the Pegasus development.’
See technical information on Stonevue by Horizon International.
Pegasus Sidewalk Paving
Location: Pegasus Town, North Canterbury
Client: Pegasus Town Ltd
Architect: Boffa Miskell
Paving Project Manager: Horizon International Limited
Paving Supplier: Horizon International, Viblock, Timaru Bluestone
Paving Products: Stonevue large format pavers, Bluestone, Interlocking concrete blocks
Paving Installers: Peter Robinson Contractors Ltd, Kreisel Contracting 1998 LTD
Sealing Contractor: Streets Ahead Ltd
