Meet the men tasked with turning a disused open sewer line into a diverse parkland.
Taewook Cha and Jon Shinkfield have been busy developing the next stage of the Greening the Pipeline project, an initiative by Melbourne Water, Wyndham council, City West Water and VicRoads that aims to convert 27 kilometres of a heritage-listed sewer line into parkland that spans multiple suburbs.
The sewer line, constructed in the 1890s, runs from the old pumping station at Spotswood to the western treatment plant at Werribee.
The project was kicked off with a 100-metre pilot park at Williams Landing.
Mr Cha and Mr Shinkfield are developing a master plan for a 3.7-kilometre stretch spanning Williams Landing, Hoppers Crossing, Truganina and Laverton North.
Mr Cha, an architect, said the project had much in common with another on which he worked, the New York High Line, a 3.75-kilometre elevated park and walkway created on a former New York Central Railroad spur.
“[The High Line] started with the original industrial artefact, and the main idea was to keep it and then build up from it,” he said.
“The most interesting, beautiful thing about it is the structure itself, and it’s about to be reborn into something completely different, but equally important.”
Mr Shinkfield said the idea was to repurpose the existing sewer line, rather than covering it up.
“It’s the most fantastic piece of industrial heritage that allows for play, for education, for a variety of pop-up uses and opportunities, community places or events,” he said.
Details: greeningthepipeline.com.au
