Bournemouth Groyne repairs, winter 2009/10

A £1 million project to repair four of Bournemouth’s groynes at Solent beach and Boscombe beach

Groyne Nos 51 & 52 at Solent beach, Southbourne

Damaged timber sections at the seaward end of the 35-year old non-standard permeable timber groynes were replaced with Portland stone rock armour.

The £800,000 cost of this work was 100% Grant Aid funded by Defra through the Environment Agency.

Groyne Nos 18 & 19 at Boscombe beach

The damaged pre-cast concrete sections at the seaward end of the 40-year old groynes were replaced with Portland stone rock armour.

The £250,000 cost of this work was 100% Grant Aid funded by Defra through the Environment Agency.

Bournemouth’s first groynes were built in 1915, after seawall construction began in 1907. A field of 48 concrete
groynes were in place by 1969, but all had been removed except for these final two. Concrete groynes had a long life, but were very difficult to maintain. The groynes were typically short and to a low profile. By 2009 Groynes 18 & 19 had started to fail at the seaward end and required repair.