Badu Mangroves Boardwalk, Sydney Olympic Park

Six zones and 754 square metres of deck replaced the old timber walk through the Badu Mangroves at Sydney Olympic Park. School groups, birdwatchers and walkers use the same route through the same mangrove stand, now on a structure that can sit fully under water in a flood and needs no painting or timber replacement.

There is no hardstand near the alignment, no water deep enough for a barge, and the mudflat is covered in the breathing roots that keep the mangroves alive. Everything happened from inside the boardwalk footprint. Every composite section was carried in by hand, and the one excavator that entered the wetland tracked at creep speed on timber planks moved forward ahead of it. The stand came through the work intact.