West Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme

Project Overview

This project was part of a major upgrade to the town’s sea defences to protect homes and businesses against flooding.

The contract involved the extension and improvements to the existing promenade with enhanced public realm, pedestrian and cycle routes and the construction of primary and secondary flood defence walls. Some of the works were carried out under tidal conditions with controlled assessments of all beach and tidal works. Works involved: 

• Installation of 450 linear metres of 3m long toe piles.
• 450 linear metres of in-situ reinforced concrete capping beam.
• Placement of 60,000m³ of fill material to build out and increase the height of the existing promenade.
• Installation of 480 flexible precast concrete mattresses weighting 8 tonnes each, including the construction of a temporary sand bund to protect the works in progress. Mats were placed with the crane and connected together with a 10mm stainless steel wire rope. In-situ concrete joints were cast between the mattresses.
• Construction of a 400m reinforced concrete crest wall.
• Construction of a primary flood defence wall constructed from 2000 Redi Rock blocks.
• Construction of a secondary flood defence wall, reinforced concrete base with precast concrete wall units.
• Reconstruction of 500m of the existing promenade, including installation of new soakaways for the existing highway drainage and new kerb races.
• Installation of new street lighting.
• 11500m² of landscaping.
• Approximately 9000m² of new tarmacadam surfacing with various decorative finishes. 

All works were carried out adjacent to a Special Area of Conservation in line with NRW requirements and the EIA conditions and regularly checked and monitored in line with our environmental management systems. 

The use of Redi-Rock blocks designed out waste and allowed us to reuse excavated material. Sand from the beach and dredging area was reused as fill, hard material was crushed and reused on site, and we also reused topsoil from a nearby project. As a result the project achieved over 97% recycling. 

The project won the 2016 BCI Award for Civil Engineering Project of the Year (up to £10m).

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