Article by GRAHAM HAWKES

Once a rural township, nestled alongside the main trunk railway line, Ellerslie is now a suburb of Auckland city, with a heart kept beating by an economy based on retail, commercial, racing and residential money.

In the 1950s the Southern Motorway joined the railway track in fencing off the main street from Kalmia Street – which would otherwise have provided locals with a direct link to Great South Road.

Vehicle traffic to and from the town centre now pours across a windswept overbridge – a nightmare for pedestrians at the best of times. The only alternative for foot traffic has been an open walkway which spirals up from the footpath at the western end of the main street and spans the motorway and the train tracks.

Just recently the Auckland City Council took pity on those who would use the walkway to reach the train station or to surrounding streets where they had parked their cars.
The word ‘exposed’ was a huge understatement for conditions on the walkway on all but the most perfect Auckland days – but now pedestrians have the luxury of a canopy roof to protect them.

Partly in recognition of the amount of use the walkway already attracted and partly to encourage others to take the train or to park their cars away from the congested town centre, the roof is a nice touch of luxury for locals and visitors alike who would otherwise have to fight buffeting winds and driving rain.

Produced by Structurflex, the canopy is made from a fabric with the suitably up-market name of Ferrari 1002 T2. Chosen for its aesthetics, strength and easy-care surface, the canopy and steel structure was built off-site, trucked to Ellerslie and put in place by cranes. The fabric is stretched over a steel frame that is firmly secured to the bridge and ramps, with the fabric tensioned by use clamp bars, cables and threaded toggles.

A fine mesh along the sides of the canopy ensures that people can’t throw large objects onto the motorway, but still gives an impression to pedestrians that they are not totally enclosed.

Structurflex says similar projects would have to be designed specifically for individual sites, but now that the manufacturing and installation process has been established it could readily be repeated.

The Structurflex company has its roots in the sail-making trade, beginnings more than 75 years ago under the name of Sails and Covers Ltd. Today Structurflex is an industry-leading fabric engineering and design firm with its headquarters in New Zealand and offices in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Kansas City and Delhi.

Extensive experience in the handling of specialised fabric materials combined with the introduction of manufacturing techniques suited to fabric engineering, enabled the company to expand into other markets, and in 1981 Structurflex Ltd was formed. It now works in architectural, canopy, environmentand transport markets and has specialised divisions for each.

Go to: www.structurflex.co.nz