Wellington City Council was looking for ideas to upgrade the public open space of the Swan and Garrett Laneways in Te Aro and engaged Morphum Environmental to provide water sensitive design input for the project.

Along with improving the open space connectivity for the precinct, Morphum highlighted the opportunity to integrate improved water management into the project that would deliver long term environmental and social outcomes in parallel with the overall landscape intent.

Given the inner CBD location this required careful consideration and design to respond to complex construction and operational challenges. Morphum factored in how stormwater could be better managed to mitigate current and future water quality impacts to the nearby Waimapihi Stream catchment.

Morphum developed a design for two integrated rain gardens which will now treat runoff from this busy part of the city - a natural way to remove pollution from stormwater run-off while improving the streetscape of the area.

You can read more about the rain gardens' development and how they work here.