Skanska completes $92m Florida pier scheme

Skanska has finished building the Municipal Pier and Pier Approach development in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, a 26-acre waterfront space where city residents can dine, shop, swim and play.

The 1,400 foot-long Pier, the city's eighth, was designed by Rogers Partners, ASD | SKY, and landscape architect Ken Smith Workshop. The Approach was designed by W Architecture, Landscape Architecture, LLC and Wannemacher Jensen Architects.

Project components include an interactive splash pad, a pavilion, market stalls, a 3,500-square-foot plaza, the five-storey Pierhead building, and the Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center.
 

Designed to withstand hurricanes and sea level rises projected for the next 80 years, the new pier incorporates parts of the old one, including five of its caissons.

New precast concrete pile foundations were driven around 75 feet below the mudline, and were made with the state's class five concrete, including admixtures for extreme marine environments. Their design lifetime is at least 75 years.

The City of St. Petersburg enagaged the public to contribute art. One of the star installations is the "Bending Arc", a sculpture by artist and Tampa Bay native Janet Echelman.

This billowing net sculpture rises to 75 feet and covers 1.5 acres of the park above the trees. At night it is lit with LEDs.

"Skanska has been a tremendous partner for us in St. Petersburg and we will be forever grateful for both their expertise and their dedication to this ambitious, generational project," said City of St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.

Article source: Global Construction Review
Image source: Skanska