Life’s a beach for Earlcote Construction
Local contractor Earlcoate Construction has completed an extensive beach recycling project at Mudeford, UK for Christchurch and East Dorset Council. The contract was carried out in an environmentally-sensitive area and was completed on time and within budget.
The main requirement of this coast protection scheme was to dredge and pump ashore approximately 25,000 cubic metres of sand and shingle, then transport and spread this along several beaches on the Mudeford frontage.
These measures have been funded by the Environment Agency and Defra with a contribution from the local council. The works were essential following the unprecedented winter storms of 2013/14 when the Christchurch beaches suffered a significant loss of material resulting in considerable damage to the existing defences. The beaches have now been replenished to pre -2013 storm levels.
Prior to the recovery of material from the off-shore sandbank, it was necessary to dredge and divert the navigational channel at the mouth of the river and harbour entrance, to the west of the natural sediment store.
Principal items of plant used included spud-legged barges, hydraulic cutter suction equipment, power packs, floating pipelines and an array of excavators and dumptrucks ashore. The key specialist equipment, carefully selected for its performance characteristics, was a 3.5 tonne heavy duty Dragflow hydraulic agitator pump, model HY300B, which was purchased by Earlcoate from the supplier Ebara Pumps, Italy, with the help and advice from Selwood Pumps.
Ebara assembled the unit in just two days and promptly delivered to site to meet the tight programme. It has a design capacity of discharging 1200 fluid cubic metres per hour with a 26m head, through a 300mm diameter delivery. Because of its modular design, it can be adapted for a wide range of other challenging tasks, including lake and industrial clean-ups, silt removal and marina and harbour dredging, particularly on environmentally sensitive sites and where access is limited. Earlcote has reported that it has performed extremely well at Mudeford and it provides the company with a most valuable asset, further strengthening their wide range of in-house resources and capabilities.
Earlcoate has also been engaged to supply and place rock armour to strengthen existing groynes and to carry out repairs to the quay wall.
By Jake Frith
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