We have two projects on the go on Brighton Beach at the moment, the construction of a new sea defence wall and shingle recharge works, but we were recently called upon to help out with something else unrelated to either of them.
This section of beach now has a brand new lifeguard tower, one which it has never had before and something that the Seafront Team has been campaigning very hard to make happen. This, and another tower however, were in the wrong place and needed repositioning. As we have teams and plant nearby at the moment, we were of course willing to fit this into our operations.
It was vital to get the towers moved that that day, as it was the official opening of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Black Rock Rejuvenation Project, a scheme to improve the environment and infrastructure of this section of seafront.
Mackley Project Manager, Barry Holt, who has been supervising the shingle recharge work, managed to negotiate the busy half term beach and preparations for the Brighton marathon to get both the towers into their correct position, much to the relief of the Seafront Team.
A Seafront Officer, on behalf of the lifeguard service said “your team carried out this task for us with professionalism and positive can-do attitudes, they were polite and friendly towards us and smiled throughout…. I can’t really overstate how grateful we are to you for solving this potentially huge pre-season headache for us”
The Seafront Team is currently interviewing nearly 100 lifeguards, running swim tests for them and organising training courses to make sure the towers are fully resourced, functional and ready for action so we were very pleased to be able to help.
The Black Rock scheme involves a number of enhancements including the renovation of historic structures, improved biodiversity and upgraded amenities.
It will also have several brand new features, including a new play area, sports facilities and a sea defence wall which Mackley is currently constructing.
The concrete works are nearly complete, encasing the steel sheet piles that were installed towards the end of last year.
The first part of the scheme involved the translocation of wildlife from their original site to a new area of beach.
Cuttings of the flora were taken to Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst and used to grow younger plants, while others were grown from seed.
After months of nurturing they were re-planted in the prepared vegetated shingle at Black Rock.
Next to this, is a new 600m boardwalk running through the new wildlife area to provide everyone access to the new ecology trail.
Here’s the boardwalk and lifeguard tower in all their glory, as ready for the summer as the rest of us!
21 April 2022
