New concrete reef gets thumbs up from the fish
The ecology of Wellington Harbour is getting a significant helping hand with a new habitat that will help restore and protect marine ecosystems in the harbour, built as part of the Te Ara Tupua shared pathway project.
56 massive engineered pyramids (4m x 4m x 5m), each weighing approximately 22 tonnes, created in Brian Perry Civil’s Seaview precast yard, have been placed on the seabed and are designed to form an artificial reef to attract fish and enhance the surrounding marine habitat.
The 560m3 of high strength, self-compacting concrete for the project was supplied by Firth - designed specifically for the reef containing 30% flyash and steel fibre.
The pyramids have been placed in clusters of three, spaced no more than fifty metres apart. Experts have designed them to generate water flows that encourage the growth of plant life, algae, shellfish, snails and kina.
The project is the first of its kind of this scale in New Zealand.
Check out this video showing how the reef will work here.