Rotorua Lakefront Redevelopment

Engineering in extraordinary conditions

Building on the edge of a geothermally active lake presents engineering challenges unlike almost any other environment in New Zealand. Our project team was faced with a complex combination of poor lakebed bearing capacity, active geothermal conditions, liquefaction risks (including settlement and lateral spreading), and significant wave-action uplift forces.

Our approach: proactive identification + collaboration

Led by our Tauranga-based team, Tonkin + Taylor brought deep local knowledge and specialist geotechnical expertise to navigate these environmental complexities. Rather than managing risks reactively, the team moved to understand and quantify them early. Detailed ground investigations, liquefaction analysis and seismic assessment were all completed as part of a comprehensive Geotechnical Interpretive Report — providing a solid engineering foundation for every design decision that followed.

Working as part of a collaborative multi-disciplinary team alongside landscape architect Isthmus, project manager Veros, and contractor HEB Construction, Tonkin + Taylor delivered:

• Soil-mixing ground anchors: An innovative ground-treatment solution to control settlement and establish stable anchor points in the soft lakebed, providing resistance against wave uplift forces — a technically novel response to an atypical engineering problem.

• Lakeside retaining walls: Structural engineering design for the terraced landform that now defines the lakefront reserve, shaping the character of the public space.

• Stormwater and utilities infrastructure: New stormwater systems for the redesigned reserve areas, alongside upgrades to the wider wastewater network.

• Ecological Restoration: Sustainability was woven directly into our engineering solutions. The boardwalk structure acts as ecological infrastructure; cantilevered edges provide shade, while concealed riprap beneath the surface creates protected rocky habitats specifically designed to support the re-establishment of kōura (freshwater crayfish), a taonga species of Lake Rotorua.

The Rotorua Lakefront Redevelopment is a testament to what becomes possible when skilled engineering, thoughtful design and genuine community ambition come together. For Tonkin + Taylor it is a project that demonstrates the power of early risk identification, deep local knowledge and genuine collaboration to deliver outcomes that go well beyond the brief.

We are proud to have played a role in creating a space that will serve this community and remarkable environment for generations to come.