Mackley has returned to the West Sussex town of Shoreham to re-construct a river wall on the northern bank of the River Adur.
The project is being carried out as part of a package of enabling works for Wates Residential – ahead of the construction of 500 residential units.
To date works have comprised of the installation of 250 continuous flight auger (CFA) piles which will provide the foundation for the new reinforced concrete river wall.
Mackley is currently installing new steel sheet piles – which will form part of the improved river wall.
The new steel piles are 16m long and are installed using a piling press, which allows the piles to be installed without disturbing the adjacent existing structures.
Ahead of the installation of the new piles, Mackley is extracting rows of existing steel piles found buried behind the river wall to make space and clear the way going forward.
Due to the tidal nature of the works, Mackley is working on the extraction of the existing piles at low tide and then installing the new piles at high tide – to maximize productivity on site.
Once half the piling work is completed, a temporary cell wall will be formed to allow the construction of the new 300m long reinforced concrete structure to begin behind it.
This structure will eventually form the river facing wall of the basement car park and the riverside frontage.
Returning to Shoreham
Between 2016 and 2019, Mackley was responsible for carrying out a major tidal defence scheme in Shoreham – significantly reducing flood risk to thousands of properties.
The defences cover 1.8km on the east bank of the River Adur between Coronation Green and the A27 road bridge – and 5.4km on the west bank between the river mouth and the A27 road bridge.
They are formed of embankments, sheet pile walls, rock revetments, flood glass, and property level protection, and are designed to last for 100 years – though have been built so that they can easily be further raised after 50 years if necessary.
13 May 2020
