Groyne replacement finished on schedule (beach now open)

Engineers using heavy machinery have been working to replace five timber groynes with four new ones throughout the winter.

This is part of a wider £1.9 million scheme to eventually replace all 53 timber groynes along Bournemouth's beaches.

Read more: Beach groyne replacement work on track for spring finish

Each new groyne is made up of approximately 29 piles, is ten-metres long and driven into the first solid layer beneath the sand.

Then around 225 planks of timber are attached.

Each groynes is between five to seven metres deep and roughly 75 metres long.

BCP Council environment member Cllr Mark Anderson said: "A high and wide beach, along with the groynes present a frontline defence against coastal erosion.

"Without this vital work, beach material would be lost from our beaches much quicker by the natural processes which the groynes slow down.

"The renewal programme has seen good planning and execution throughout by BCP Council working with Suttles contractors and has enabled this scheme to be delivered successfully and ahead of time despite the additional implications of adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.

"Despite the complexity, groyne works have been completed weeks earlier than planned and on budget.

"The newly installed groynes will provide a coastal protection role for up to 30 years."

At times the renewal programme has been quite eventful, council officials said. During the works, contractors discovered an unexploded bomb which had to be made safe by the bomb squad.

Read more: Unexploded bomb on Bournemouth beach detonated

Also, a lost wedding ring was retrieved which and reunited with its owner who lost it five years beforehand.

Read more: Owner of ring lost on Bournemouth beach comes forward after five years

The next phase of timber groyne renewals is planned to start in October 2021 from east of Middle Chine to West Cliff zig-zag. Three old groynes will be replaced with four more evenly spaced ones.