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Brighton Marina, Sussex – C&D waste recycling on site for sea defence (seawall)

The existing seawall, promenade and rear splashwall between Brighton Marina and Ovingdean on the south coast of England were some 70 years old. Necessary repairs after storm damage were becoming increasingly frequent and more extensive. A renovation of the defence system involved the encasement of the front face of the existing seawall, the removal and replacement of the bullnose, the raising of the promenade and the replacement of the rear splashwall.

The removal of demolished concrete from the site was likely to incur significant disposal costs, in the form of transport and Landfill Tax, if it could not be sold as fill for other works.

The anticipated effects of a rise in sea level rise now has to be taken into account when carrying out government grant-aided coastal defence schemes. To this end, it seemed appropriate to raise the crest level of the seawall and promenade as part of the improvement scheme. Raising the rear splashwall, although desirable, was not possible because of environmental constraints.

An assessment of concrete arisings from the demolition works conducted at the planning stage of this project enabled identification of potential reuse within the works in three ways.

1. Some of the larger sections of the demolished bullnose were suitable as secondary
   armour under the new rock armour revetment (replacing importation of granite armour from Norway).
   

   Renovation of Brighton-Ovingdean sea defence wall - bullnose sections earmarked for secondary armour (courtesy Posford Haskoning)

2. Some of the demolition arisings – concrete blocks and the friable no-fines concrete from behind the existing splashwall – were suitable as fill material within the two box structure ramps leading from the promenade on to the foreshore. The fill is required to provide deadweight to stop the structures moving under wave loading.
3. Crushed concrete blocks were also used to raise the promenade by 600 mm, to take some account of sea level rise over the coming 50 years.
   

   Foundations for the promenade ramps at Brighton (courtesy Posford Haskoning)

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