by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The main sheet piling work on sea wall adjacent to Weymouth Pavilion is to start before Christmas, on December 15th.
Preparatory and land-based work has been taking place since September but works on the seaward side has had to wait for a series of consents, which have now been given.
Site preparation has already led to a loss of car parking spaces on the Peninsula area with contractors using an area close to the walls for the works and a futher storage area close to the former ferry terminal.
Dorset Council’s harbours advisory committee have been told that with all of the permissions now in place the seaward works can now start and are likely to continue until August next year.
The new metal sheeting is expected to have a lifespan of at least seventy years.
It will be fitted approximately a metre in front of the existing wall with the area between back-filled and the old sheeting cut off at the top and capped to create a level area, including a new footpath and viewing areas.
Councillors were told that the old sheeting defences are not expected to corrode in situ and cause disturbance to the surrounding land.
The scheme for the two walls is part of a larger project to protect the harbour with estimated total costs for walls F & G only of just under £10m – paid for mainly from Government Levelling Up funding and harbour budget reserves.
Said a Dorset Council spokeperson: “We are currently finalising the working pattern with our contractor to ensure this work is carried out as swiftly as possible to avoid further delays. It is anticipated that materials will be delivered to, and waste taken from the site by road.
“We will continue to do all we can to minimise disruption to residents and businesses. A drop-in session for local people is being organised for early in the new year.”
The two walls were lasted worked on in 1977 by the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and together stretch to almost 500 metres, the entire length suffering from corrosion with holes in many areas. Parts of the seaward wall had previously been fenced off for safety reasons with a 5metre water exclusion zone in place in case of sudden collapse.
A consultant’s report for Dorset Council said the walls are in very poor condition with a ‘significant loss’ of the existing steel sheet thickness with holes allowing infill material to be washed out to sea, leading in 2022, to the development of a sinkhole along the footpath close to the wall. Some of the piling was estimated to only have a five-year life at the time of a 2018 inspection.
The new sheeting is part of the wider development of the Peninsula area, which is likely to include a hotel and leisure facilities, with the new walls slightly higher to protect the area from predicted sea level rises until the year 2100.
Noise from the project is expected to be within acceptable levels although when work is taking place close to the beach and nearby hotels only one piling rig will be used at any time.
