Fire-damaged Southend Pier is Finally Rebuilt

Commercial Marine & Piling , working with Breheny , have replaced many tonnes of fire damaged wooden piles.

The work involved the removal of fire damaged decking and piles down to mean low water mark and replacing with over 300m 3of structural hardwoods such as greenheart, Ekki and Basrolocus for the piles as well as 1,000m 2of Massaranduba, Ekki and Ipe for the decking.

Commercial Marine & Piling chose Howard Marine’s jack-up barge Zee Jack General as the main working platform, equipped with a 50 tonne Atlas crane.

English Heritage monitored the work closely, ensuring that replacement work was identical to the original construction of 1896 and the extension of 1928. The work was originally scheduled for the summer of 2002 but could not begin until September, leaving Commercial Marine & Piling to cope with severe winter working conditions.

Temperatures of as low as -11ºC were recorded but the only working day lost came when a storm blew constantly at force 11.

Zee Jack General wasjacked well above the wave crest on 28m legs and rode out the storm comfortably.

All materials had to be brought in by barge from Sheerness and unloaded to the pier. In keeping to the original build specification, the 18 man crew hammered some 10,000 rose head spikes and 30,000 coach screws.

The refurbished pier is again able to accommodate passenger craft and contribute to the Southend economy.

MJ Information No: 18399