Project Data
| Client | Wansbeck District Council | Value | £10m |
| Location | Newbiggin by the Sea | Contract | NEC Option B |
| Date | May – June 2006 | Duration | April 2007- November 2007 |
Project Information
Newbiggin by the Sea was once a seaside resort, with the residential area focused around the bay. Falling beach levels and increased risk of seawall failure led to a strategy and proposal to import beach fill, along with construction of an offshore breakwater to retain material.
Work commenced with the construction of the breakwater, firstly laying a geotextile fabric before placing the rock core. The project included for the sculpture ‘Couple’ (two 5m high bronze figures) to be mounted on a steel piled structure, incorporated into the body of the breakwater. The foundations and receiving piles were laid during low waters whilst placing the rock core. 3.9m3 Coreloc (concrete armour) units were then placed as the upper armour layer, with a 5 tonne rock armour toe. Altogether 60,000 tonnes of rock and concrete armour were used to build the offshore breakwater.
300,000m3 of beach recharge was then dredged and pumped ashore, in just 3.5 weeks, by the 15,000m3 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger, ‘Oranje. The vessel won sand from a licensed area near Skegness, before linking up to a 1.5km pipeline running into the bay at Newbiggin.
With the foundations of the piled structure stable within the breakwater core, the upper section of the structure was then placed, with the legs rising at an angle to accommodate a deck on which to mount the sculpture. The figures were carefully lifted into place using the ‘Strekker’, before being permanently bolted on to their new home looking out to the North Sea.