AMERICA'S CUP WATERFRONT 2000 DEVELOPMENT AT AUCKLAND HARBOR, NEW ZEALAND
by Peter van Niekerk

Surebond SB-1370 Joint Stabilizing Sealer was specified to seal and stabilize the prestigious Auckland, New Zealand Waterfront 2000 boardwalk that provides the backdrop to the staging of this year's America's Cup international yachting challenge.

Whilst the Surebond SB-1300 sealer, imported especially from America for the project, has performed very impressively under those harsh coastal conditions, the same cannot be said for the American yachts that were sadly eliminated from the Louis Fuitton competition. This year will be the first time in 150 years that an American team will not be competing in the final event to defend the trophy that bears it's name.

The Auckland City Council together with private developers decided to rebuild the boardwalk around this picturesque bay to upgrade to this popular tourist section of the City. The Architects, City Design, working with the international firm of consulting civil engineers, Ove Arup and Partners, elected to use patterned brick pavers manufactured in Australia as the primary surfacing material with cobble stone features in some of the high profile restaurant areas.

The decision to beautify the waterfront was taken after much research and studies that were made of similar boardwalks not only in Australia but as far afield as Europe and South Africa. Feedback that they obtained from developers in those countries was that quite apart from the established cost saving benefits that were easily confirmed by doing lifecycle studies, that other more important benefits would be obtained. What they learned was that tremendous socioeconomic benefits had accrued to those developers in particular and to the cities as a whole. What happened was by introducing the decorative paving they created a whole new environment. These pavements not only provided attractive settings but that by upscaling of the whole neighborhood in the process, they also changed the demographic mix of visitors. A whole new higher income group of tourists started visiting those waterfront areas that had previously been the haunt of a somewhat undesirable element. The drug peddlers and their accompanying clients who used to ply their trade there started to feel uncomfortable and moved away to less highlighted venues. This realization led in turn to the owners of properties fronting these developments to upgrade their own properties to reap better returns on what had been somewhat downscale investments. One such development in Cape Town, South Africa changed a deserted, dangerous old fishing harbor into the second most visited tourist venue in Africa. It all started with some decorative paving and became win, win return for everyone involved.

The Auckland developers chose pavers, in four different contrasting colors, to be installed in a variety of patterns on sand bed over an aggregate base and jointed in sand. This method of setting was chosen because the City wanted a pavement that would be built for posterity in this historic harbor. They also specified that it should perform with the absolute minimum maintenance cost.

The pavers chosen for their dramatic colors did not have the normal spacer lugs to ensure the exact spacing between the units for the jointing sand. The installers however catered for this contingency by installing the pavers on the uncompacted bedding sand in the normal way leaving 1/16-inch spaces between the pavers. They then brushed in a small amount of joint sand to fill the bottom third of the joints before carrying out the initial plate compaction of the pavement. This ensured that the pavers retained their exact alignment. Once they were certain that they had established the correct lines, spaces and patterns, the joints were filled with joint sand to the bottom of the chamfers. They then carried out a final pass of the plate compactor to solidly bed the pavers and create the final interlock.

The Surebond SB-1300 was then applied to the pavement by pumping the material directly out of the drums using a low-pressure bulk sprayer. The excess material was squeegeed into the joints to bond up the sand and allowed to cure for 24 hours. The end result has been an unqualified success. The pavement has been fully tested by the not only the normal traffic but by the very heavy construction traffic during the wetter than normal New Zealand climate. Not a single damaged or chipped element was observed in the entire pavement during a walkthrough that was done some six months after the contract was completed. The performance life for the pavement has been estimated at 100 years. A great testimonial for a well-designed and constructed pavement protected by Surebond SB-1300 sealer.

published in Landscape Contractor Magazine.

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ONE STEP SEALS AND STABILIZES SEALS PAVERS AND BONDS & STABILIZES JOINT SAND IN ONE APPLICATION
Seals and stabilizes paver piers, dock areas, parks and plazas, stadiums, city streets and walks, plus pools, patios and driveways.
Protection against salt spray, acid rain, sun fade and weather discoloration and stops damaging joints sand washouts, wind erosion and unwanted weed growth.