These emergency works were required due to the pre-existing concrete cliff facing falling into disrepair causing danger to the public.
These works involved the undertaking of hammer and carbonation testing of the existing concrete structure to identify the areas that required attention.
Once the defective areas had been identified the concrete was cut back until a satisfactory concrete substrate was exposed using a high pressure water jetting system, hand tools and grit blasting the defective steel reinforcement whilst rotating labour to comply with the Hand Arm Vibration (HAV) Regulations.
The exposed surface was primed, new steel reinforcement was fixed where required allowing the concrete repair mortar to be applied.
The high level beams also required repairs as the investigation on site revealed their poor condition, a steel reinforcement cage was constructed and fixed, following the removal of all defective concrete, and the concrete was poured into a suspended soffit shutter.
Finally a protective coating was applied to the whole area to help preserve the structure from further carbonation in an exposed marine location.
These works took place on the promenade open to the public, therefore we had to maintain public access throughout the works. This was achieved by cooperating with the client and local residents.
Site manager Justin Hazelden stated that the main challenges of this project were working height on exposed seafront and maintaining public safety during the water high pressure water jetting activities.
Ovenden Allworks is a member of Constructionline and are Acclaim Health and Safety certified. We are members of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association. We are a Section 278 approved contractor for Kent County Council. We also have ISO 14001(Environmental certification), ISO 9001 (Quality Assurance).
