Local residents have given Team Van Oord a big ‘thumbs up’ for the way it is carrying out a coastal defense scheme in Portsmouth.
Work is well underway for a £6 million flood protection scheme at Anchorage Park, Portsmouth. The scheme, which will reduce the risk of coastal flooding and erosion to the area over the next 100 years, was awarded to Team Van Oord by the Eastern Solent Coastal Partnership, and made possible by funding awarded to Portsmouth City Council by the Environment Agency.
The scheme involves the construction of 1.4km of coastal defenses along the north of Portsea Island between Ports Creek Railway Bridge and Kendall’s Wharf.
To date, 1.4km of new embankment has been constructed using 52,000 tonnes of earth – sufficient to fill 10 Olympic size swimming pools. Team Van Oord’s specialist engineers have been regularly testing the earth throughout construction, at the on-site laboratory, to ensure it meets the specification.
Steve Martin, Team Van Oord’s Contracts Manager for Anchorage Park , said: “ We are now in the process of placing rocks over the top of the embankment to protect it from erosion. On the eastern side of the site we have been building a wall from gabions (stone filled wire baskets) which will support the new embankment once it is finished. ”
As part of the work a new flood wall is being constructed around a bridge to reduce the risk of Eastern Road becoming a flood route. A new foundation has been created for the wall by driving more than 400 steel sheet piles into the ground, and the sheet piles have also been extended up and around the electricity substation in the vicinity.
Phase one construction works began in May 2015 and are expected to be complete during October 2015.
Anchorage Park is the first stage of a wider scheme which will reduce the risk of flooding and erosion from the sea to 4,200 homes, 500 businesses and critical infrastructure, over the next 100 years. The design of the defenses incorporates ideas from local residents, offered during consultation events.