One of our many passions is ensuring that as much timber as possible is reused from along our shore lines, and resawn to be reused again in sea defenses. These projects demonstrate how this can be achieved. Volkerwessels UK were awarded the contract for both these projects by the Local Authority at Southend-on-Sea. Volkers subcontracted the piling-work to Aarleff Piling. These projects were particularly challenging to the contractors, as they had to work within a 6 hour window per day due to the tides. To complete the work they used a 700 piling rig to drive the 300mm x 300mm Greenheart Piles 7m into the sandy surface. The reclaimed Greenheart piles formed a stable structure for the disabled access ramp and steps to be built. The second contract was to build a complete new groyne using 12 to 14m piles reclaimed from Channel Marker Piles in Southampton Harbour, and the groyne boards were cut from fender timbers from Portsmouth docks.

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