Works on a scheme to reduce the risk of flooding and erosion to properties in the West Sussex town of Arundel continue to progress, with the installation of steel sheet piles now complete.
The Arundel Tidal Defence Scheme (ATDS) is being carried out by Mackley working as part of Team Van Oord and on behalf of the Environment Agency.
The scheme is the first phase of planned works that involve improvements to the flood defences on both sides of the River Arun. Once complete it will better protect up to 130 properties from flooding, and a further 30 from erosion.
As part of phase one, Mackley is constructing new flood defences at River Road and Tarrant Wharf.
Over the past few months, a jack-up barge has been in position, in order to install a new flood defence wall, made of steel sheet piles, along the River Road stretch of the scheme.
This is progressing well – with the installation of 48 metres of steel sheet piles now complete and driven to level.
The next priority is to provide additional stability to the overall construction, with the installation of ground anchors – long support brackets which will be drilled through the new river wall to the land behind.
Waling beams will also be installed, to spread the load on sheet piles.
In preparation, the two large cranes used to install the steel sheet piles have been removed from site. These have been replaced with smaller cranes which are more suitable for the next phase of works.
Routine site monitoring activities will continue during the next phase of construction.
Structural surveyors visited the site week commencing 25 May and the information gathered is under review. This will help plan any further measures that may need to be put in place to continue to safeguard the weaker sections of the river wall.
08 June 2020
