Artist impression of the proposed new Riverwalk

BRISBANE City Council’s proposal to reconstruct the section of its Riverwalk washed away in last year’s Brisbane River flood will be an eyesore and at greater risk of damage in other floods.

Eileen Collins, who lives on the edge of the river at New Farm, said there had been no official inquiry into the failure of the original design – a floating structure which rose and fell with the tide and general river movement – and that the chosen fixed structure would increase the risk of greater damage during future floods.

“I’ve heard engineers say: ‘Why would they do that?’ because it doesn’t ride with the tide. All the debris is going to be locked inside it,” Eileen said.

“Our concern is that it’s going to be another eyesore, not an icon.

Many waterfront residents received letters from the Brisbane City Council in August last year, outlining five concepts for  the new Riverwalk – two floating, two fixed and one retaining wall – before announcing in November its preferred option, which would be anchored into the riverbed.

Eileen said she was concerned for the river and that a concrete eyesore would not make a good replacement for the original floating design.

“From what I could make out, they (the couplings joining the platforms together) would still be there if they weren’t jutting out into the river from one particular area and if they had gotten better linkage between the different platforms,” Eileen said.

She said the original walkway was more attractive and her research showed many floating structures around the world had withstood natural disasters.

“To the committee who put the last design in, my question is: ‘Who are they and what are their qualifications?’ because they were the ones who put the (failed) design in last time,” Eileen said.

Central Ward councillor David Hinchliffe fully supports the new Riverwalk.

He said he told council Infrastructure Committee chairman councillor Margaret De Wit that he would do “all he could” to see that a “sound, safe and feasible” Riverwalk was constructed as soon as possible.

“The advice I’ve received is that it has been totally drafted by engineers and to take account of flooding. I do not think that the current project constitutes as rushing at all,” Cr Hinchliffe said.

Cr De Wit declined an invitation to comment but a council media representative said council had consulted structural engineering firm Arup to conduct a full review of the cause of failure of the last design in April 2011.

They concluded the main cause of the failure was “debris becoming trapped in the opening span” which placed a heavy load on the structure, causing it to break away.

“A hydraulic modelling report determined the impacts that each Riverwalk option would have on the Brisbane River flood behaviour,” he said. “This report demonstrated there was no significant difference between the fixed option the original floating Riverwalk.”

He said the chosen fixed structure scored well in terms of capital and maintenance cost, flood resilience, security and privacy.

Construction on the new $70 million section of Riverwalk is expected to begin early next year and be completed by mid-2014.