Step by step we’re getting there! Great progress this week as we’re almost halfway through installation of the step revetments. This is an exciting element of the improvement to the public area as well as being an essential part of the primary flood defence. The design intent is that this flood defence feature, starting at Speakers’ Corner, will run along the seafront, improving coastal flood protection and creating easier access to the beach.  

Within our eco-trail gardens by the bandstand field we’ve re-used granite gun turrets recovered from the old sea defences in front of Southsea Castle. On the boulder in the photo, you can see an image of a Brent Goose set into the stone. Brent Geese famously land each winter on Southsea Common for their holidays before embarking on their long journey back to Siberia. We wonder if you will be able to spot the outlines of other popular animals set into the granite boulders when we open in May...

Hendrik-Jan is our marine project manager here at the Southsea Coastal Scheme. He has more than 25 years in the industry working on worldwide projects and is now supervising our rock work. As a child Hendrik-Jan loved playing in the sea and on the sand with toy machinery. He then went on to graduate from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in dredging technology, project management and coastal offshore defence. Hendrik-Jan has many hobbies and interests which include festivals, travelling, driving, spending time with friends, and listening to live music…especially (and, most appropriately) rock!