West Head Lookout Upgrade

The objective of the West Head Upgrade works was to improve visitors’ safety while maintaining visitor amenity to the stunning West Head views.

The original West head lookout was constructed of dry stacked stonework walls and no handrails and was located near large drop offs and cliffs.

The upgrade works  included the careful deconstruction and salvage of the existing dry stacked stone walls and sandstone flag pavements for reuse, the excavation and installation of rock anchors, underpinning, concrete footings, structural concrete filled block walls, subsoil drainage ,cladding of new structural walls with existing salvage sandstone, sandstone seats, timber seats, careful removal and reinstatement of historic plaques, installation of flagged paving using salvaged flags, landscaping and the installation of handrails.

The project is located in a remote area of Ku-ring-gai Chase national park on the edge of the headland and required careful planning around WHS, particularly with regards to falling from heights, given the walls being constructed were located directly on the edge of an extremely steep valley/cliff. The project also had extremely tight access which required careful planning around materials handling which included the excavation and temporary relocation of circa 100m3 of spoil which was required to be reinstated behind the new concrete block retaining walls.

We also implemented robust environmental protections, as the site slopes down toward the edge of the cliff, which leads directly to the waters of Broken Bay and the entrance to Pittwater.

The project was delivered to a high standard with no environmental or WHS incidents.