Havant District & Portsmouth City Council and Coastal Partners: Greening the Grey Project
The project
The Coastal Partners have designed and implemented the UK’s first large-scale “Ecoformliner” at the North Portsea Island Coastal Defence Scheme. The innovative design was developed to create a textured finish on concrete seawalls to create a unique environment that allows plants and animals to colonise the wall, adding to biodiversity and habitat creation in an area that would otherwise not be suitable. It also improves the resilience of the wall. As marine vegetation colonises the wall it helps to reduce salt ingress and egress by retaining a constant surface temperature and moisture during low tides. This process helps to counter weather-related deterioration, providing greater resilience and longevity.
The Ecoformliner mould is reusable so can be used numerous times increasing efficiencies in construction. The innovative design with its repeatable pattern can also be adapted to be used along the entire 2km length but can also be adapted to be used on other projects.
The benefits
Construction of the sea wall commenced in April 2021 and will take a number of years to complete. Not only will the overall flood defence scheme will protect the community with over 4,200 homes, just under 500 commercial properties, arterial roads, scheduled monuments, a primary rail route, 89 substations, properties, and schools from coastal flooding over the next 100 years. At the same time, it will also improve the environment. This unique approach will enhance the habitat potential for 2km of seawall which would otherwise have been inhospitable. This award-winning Ecoformliner has been designed, so that the texturing covers the whole wall to allow the species to move with sea level rise.
