The £20m scheme will include detailed design and construction of new coastal defences on a short stretch of the Lancashire coast to the south of Blackpool.
VBA will provide new coast protection at Fairhaven and Church Scar as the current concrete defences, built in the 1890s, are in poor condition and require emergency repairs every year to prevent a major breach.
The scheme is funded by the Environment Agency and is part of the North West Shoreline Management Plan to ‘hold the line’ here. On completion 2,425 properties will benefit from the new flood and erosion defences.
Work on VBA's £17.5m contract is expected to start on site mid-January 2018 at Church Scar in Lytham St Annes. Work will include piling, earthworks, pre-cast concrete revetment installation and concrete re-surfacing to the promenade, before starting work at Fairhaven. Overall completion will be in 2020.
Councillor David Eaves, chairman of Fylde Council’s operational management committee, said: “This is the largest capital project to be undertaken in the history of Fylde Borough Council. After all our hard work I’m delighted to see the contract now executed for the scheme. As well as protecting peoples’ homes we have also considered sustainability and economic growth with the scheme.”
As part of the protection scheme, VBA will create a temporary bird roost to avoid bird population disturbance to the natural ecology and environment.
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