Case Study Overview
In February 2014, the sea wall in Dawlish, Devon, collapsed during severe storms, causing the ground beneath the mainline railway track, which runs alongside the beach, to subside. Red7Marine was subcontracted by Amco Rail to provide specialist marine expertise and a stable working platform for plant and equipment.
At a glance
- Location: Dawlish sea wall, 2015
- Plant used: 250T Haven Seariser 4, 100T Haven Seajack 3
- What we did: Red7Marine supported Amco Rail on its contract with Network Rail to repair the seawall in Dawlish which collapsed during fierce storms in 2014
- Contract value: £500,000
The Challenge
Initially, an 80-metre breach in the seawall was temporarily bolstered by using 19 freight containers welded together.
The seawall was then rebuilt and constructed with more than 6,000 tonnes of concrete and 150 tonnes of steel. This included building a new sea wall in front of the old wall to give added protection in the event of repeat extreme weather. A few miles down the coast at Teignmouth, 25,000 tonnes of collapsed cliff had to be removed. In a four-mile stretch of railway, 600 metres of parapets and 700 metres of track and ballast had to be replaced, along with cables and signalling equipment. The coastal footpath and Dawlish station was also rebuilt.
The Solution
The 250t Haven Seariser 4 was towed to site by Falmouth Tug MTS Indus, with final positioning on the beach by Taska Marine’s 1204 shallow draught, road transportable tug and the local Teignmouth Maritime Services’ tug, Boojum Bay.
The Haven Seariser 4 was used to support a 135t crawler crane hired from Weldex, which was used to install Pre-Cast Concrete L section wall units to increase the seawall height. Red7Marine’s smaller jack-up, the 100t Haven Seajack 3 was also brought in later to the project to support a second Weldex crane which assisted with drilling operations to secure the L section units.
