North Portsea Island Phase 4b Update - Week 2

This week has seen the first concrete wall pours happening on site near the Andrew Simpson Watersports Centre.

The wall is made up of three sections: lower, middle and upper. Most pours so far have been the lower wall (as seen in the picture below). On some of the wall sections an ecoformliner (a textured mould giving the concrete a shape, which provides shelter and retains moisture) has been used  to promote ecological growth. These pours are currently taking place and you can read more about this process here.

The process of building the flood defence wall consists of a few stages. Firstly, steel reinforcement cages are built on site. These must be carefully constructed to a specific design, and then checked by site supervisors when in place. These cages provide structural strength to the concrete. The site team must ensure the cages are placed correctly within the concrete bayready to be covered in concrete. Once the cages have been signed off by the project team, the concrete shutters (the formliner is fixed onto these panels that provide a mould into which concrete can be poured, pictured below) are placed around the cage. These must then be approved before the concrete can be poured.

Weekly environmental audits are completed throughout the works to ensure they are as environmentally safe and controlled as possible. The team is very happy with the progress made so far on site, and it is exciting to see the new flood defence structure - alongside its environmental enhancements - come to life. If you have any queries about the scheme, please get in touch at npis@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or via our website