Rock armouring has been fitted to the Cowes breakwater, bringing the practical element of this 17-month construction project to an end
Cowes harbour will have much better tidal protection this winter, after contractors Boksalis Westminster announced that they have completed the rock armouring on the new Cowes breakwater.
What’s more, the steel docking piles have been removed and five navigation beacons have been installed to help skippers spot the new 350-metre wide obstacle.
The project will now be reviewed and examined against ABPmer’s modelling programme to develop a new sustainable dredging management plan for the Medina Estuary.
The construction of the Cowes breakwater will allow further development of the harbour, with a new marina due to be built in East Cowes in 2016/17.
Harbour master Stuart McIntosh said: “This new breakwater, along with the next phases of our harbour infrastructure, the extension to the Shrape and new Eastern Channel, are the key elements to achieving the Commission’s primary objective of providing a sheltered harbour environment.”
Mariners are reminded that the Cowes breakwater exclusion zone (pictured below) is still in force.
