UK: VBA Joint Venture Nabs Essex Coastal Defence Contract

A firm has been chosen to carry out a £36 million coastal defence project from Clacton Pier to Holland Haven and work is due to get underway next month.

VolkerStevin, alongside joint venture partners Boskalis Westminster and Atkins (VBA Joint Venture Ltd), have won the contract for the scheme along a 5km stretch of coastline which will also create new investment opportunities and lead to the renaissance of the seafront.

The contract was signed on the Lower Promenade and project managers Mott MacDonald were present.

Representatives of Tendring District Council (TDC), Essex County Council (ECC) and the Environment Agency, who have all provided funding, all took part.

Work is due to begin in June and carry on throughout the summer and into autumn. It will start up again in spring 2015 and should be completed in the autumn of next year.

Nick Turner, TDC’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Coast Protection, said the signing of the contract is a major milestone in the overall program.

“We now have the contractor in place to deliver this huge coastal defence scheme which residents have been longing for,” he said.

“It will get off the ground earlier than expected and will be completed in around 18 months – which is much quicker than we originally anticipated.

“Not only will residents see activity on site within weeks they will also have their vastly improved beaches and defences in place sooner than was ever thought possible.”

Turner added that, inevitably, there will be increased levels of noise, as with any major engineering project, and that every effort will be made to keep that to a minimum.

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Press Release, May 29, 2014