Dredging on the bright side of the River Dart
Premier Marinas Limited, the marina operator with harbours based on the South Coast of the UK started redeveloping the Noss on Dart Marina, a charming marina, set on the sunny eastern bank of the River Dart just a few minutes from Dartmouth. With help of independent international marina consultants Marina Projects has the ambitious plan to create a unique place of interest and activity started. This marina and boatyard already offers easy access to the south western peninsula and will be completely redeveloped in 2023.
Prior to the building activities, the cooperating companies hired in Royal Smals with its dredging equipment 10” Cutter Suction Dredger Phoenix to get a fundamental and important job done.
Royal Smals was requested to dredge approximately 12,500 m3 of sediment out of the harbour as gently and noiseless as possible in the secluded area of outstanding natural beauty. Of course not without fullfilling the legislations of several permits and licences demanded by the authorities. Besides that there was the challenge to re-use the dredged material on the project site. With the consequence that less new material will have to be purchased! Therefore the disposal costs for the dredged up material could be saved. Prior to the execution, Royal Smals gathered enough samples of the material and concluded that storing the sediments in dewatering bags would be a good option. Using the exactly suitable amount of flocculent the dredged up sediment could be dewatered very rapidly. The 10” CSD Phoenix connected with floating pipelines filled the stackable High Density Woven Soltain geotextile bags up to 75m length. The dewatering process finally worked out well in the brackish waters although the first week were wetter than ever. Apart from the vulnerable environment, the dredging operation was executed in a very eco-friendly setting, well prepared by a pro-active organisation without any surprises.
After the dreding project on the bright side of the River Dart, the many cooperating companies and organisations involved in the development certainly will be able to build up the beautiful Noss on Dart Marina.
