Southsea Sea Defences - Explore Engineering Site Visit and Walk

Overview

Portsmouth is Britain’s only island city and parts of it are below current high tide levels and will become increasingly at risk with sea-level rise. This is an opportunity to see an almost complete part of the major defences at Southsea and the start of construction of the next phase.

The Southsea Coastal Scheme is the UK's largest local authority-led coastal defences project, worth more than £130M. It will stretch for 4.5km from Old Portsmouth to Eastney and help to reduce the risk of flooding to more than 10,000 homes and 700 businesses.

The walk will involve a walkthrough of the first phase of the Southsea Coastal Scheme (Frontage 1) which is due to be completed later this year and the start of construction of Frontage 4 around Southsea Castle which started early this year and is due to be completed by early 2024. Further details of the scheme are on the website.

Although the site visit is to a live construction site, work is scheduled to finish at 16:00 and full PPE will not be required to go on the site, but sensible robust footwear is required.

After the site visit, we plan to walk about 4 miles to South Parade Pier, where people will be able to purchase refreshments.

Attending

Covid-19 restrictions: we will abide by Government guidance in place at the time of this event or postpone the event to a new date if necessary. Arrangements will be clarified in advance for those people signed up for the event.

Meet at the Southsea Project Office, Pier Road, Portsmouth, Southsea, PO5 3AX (parking available) at 15:45 for a 16:00 introductory talk and to start the visit. The total length of the walk is about 4 miles. The walk is expected to finish at about 18:30pm. No specific arrangements have been made for refreshments afterwards, but there are facilities on the pier to provide refreshments and a variety of pubs etc nearby.

This event has been organised by the ICE retired members group, but all grades of membership, guests and partners are welcome at this event. Attendance will count towards CPD. Numbers will be limited to 20 people. There is no charge for this event.