Remedial Works to Defective Sheet Piling and Revetment, Meadfoot Beach, Torquay

Torbay Council ran a further competition under Lot 2 of the Standing List for Highways and Marine Engineering Schemes. A 70m length of beach level revetment originally formed with grouted masonry is present at the western end of the sea defence structure. Driven sheet piling retains the revetment which has been overlain with a sprayed reinforced concrete encasement to provide remedial protection against scour and undermining. The sheet-piling and inclined face of the revetment are in very poor condition. Steel section thickness loss is locally severe. Reinforcement bar has become exposed by scour action to sprayed concrete on the revetment rising above the sheet piling. Both sheet pile tops and exposed rebar have been trimmed where they present a hazard to users of the beach. This condition presents a significant risk of potential compromise of stability to the sea wall, and/or of potential breach beneath the wall to draw fill material from behind, as was the case in 2020. Such a breach would present serious risk to the integrity of the public highway and to the integrity of the public sewer rising main.