Echo Point Lookout, Katoomba

Blue Mountain

Architect

33 Parallel

Builder

Co-ordinated Landscapes

Sector

Community

Value

3.3M

This project forms part of the significant upgrade at Echo Point Lookout, Katoomba for Blue Mountains City Council in 2018. The project included a new gathering place, a new Prince of Wales Lookout and an elevated night-lit boardwalk connecting the new and existing lookouts as well as the gathering place. Once completed, the new structure became a significant extension of the existing Echo Points lookouts with an exceptional view towards the famous Three Sisters.

Highlights

The new gathering place (amphitheatre) was designed with Dharug and Gundungurra People’s cultural features.

A large, cantilevered structure was designed for the new Prince of Wales lookout.

Various shapes of sandblasted precast concrete panels created the enclosure of the new gathering place.

An elevated and night-lit accessible boardwalk has also reopened the link to The Prince Henry Cliff Walk and allowed renewed access to the Prince of Wales Lookout which has been closed for 10 years.

Challenges

The site is in a steep topography which made the construction of the new boardwalk foundation very challenging as the access by the excavator/machine is restrained. Adams Consulting Engineers worked closely with the contractor and geotechnical engineer, our engineer converted the elevated boardwalk structure to long-span steel bridges (20m span each) in order to reduce the excavation/piling work at the steep site.

The site has no direct road access except through the existing Echo Point deck which has limited loading capacity. Modular/prefabricated steel bridge sections were designed which enabled lifting using a mobile crane set up at a distance from the site. This greatly expedited the construction progress.