Footpath collapses into monster urban slip

Footpath collapses into monster urban slip

A gigantic landslide in a shopping centre car park on Auckland’s North Shore has worsened in the current storm, with a footpath collapsing into the slip.

Auckland Council engineers and consultants are confident the buildings behind the car park are safe, but are currently monitoring the site 24/7.

The slip hit the Birkenhead car park in October, following reports from local businesses of cracks in the car park since August.

A second slip hit six weeks later, in November, worsening the landslide and taking away a contractor’s stabilisation equipment.

At 4.30pm on Thursday afternoon, the section of footpath collapsed into the landslide, following a series of slips beneath the path had undermined it in past weeks, Ross Roberts, Auckland Council’s geotechnical and geological practice lead said.

“We [council engineers] have inspected the area and confirmed that no new cracks are forming behind it, and there are no indications of further regression at the moment.

“We have undertaken topographical surveys of the site yesterday morning [January 4] (before the collapse) and again yesterday evening from 8pm after the movement to confirm that ground closer to the buildings has not moved.

“These surveys, along with our other monitoring, have confirmed that large-scale movement is not taking place. We will continue with this monitoring today.

“We do not consider there to be any increase in risk to the buildings as a result of this movement.”

Article by Jodi Yeats
Published 05 January 2018 > Auckland Now – stuff.co.nz