Balfour Beatty to deliver two coastal defence schemes for Welsh council in £97M deal

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The £97M deal was secured by Balfour Beatty through the Scape Civil Engineering Framework and will see more than 2,500 local homes and businesses, as well as the tourist economy in Denbighshire, protected from flooding and coastal erosion.

Work on the £69M Rhyl scheme, which has involved design by Mott MacDonald, involves replacement of over 600m of original sea walls and construction of a new rock armour defence. The £28M Prestatyn project, which has been designed by JBA Consulting, includes construction of a 1.6km long coastal erosion embankment.

The council has said that existing defences in Rhyl were built at various times between 1900 and 1920 and do not meet current standards. “Without intervention they will ultimately fail. We need to replace them at the earliest opportunity to reduce the risk of flooding and to support the regeneration of Rhyl,” said the council. “We have considered a wide range of options for improving existing coastal defences in Central Rhyl in line with the standard of protection provided by the adjacent defences at East Rhyl, which was completed in 2021, and West Rhyl, which was finished in in 2015.”

The situation in Prestatyn appears to be less pressing with the council warning that the condition and age of defences no longer providing adequate protection with them expected to be overwhelmed more frequently in the next 50 years as rising sea levels and bigger storms caused by climate change will result in larger waves. Heavy civil engineering solutions for Prestatyn were dismissed in favour of the earth embankment solution on the basis of costs, which were estimated to be around £50M for a design similar to that being deployed in Rhyl.

Balfour Beatty will be working to improve both the biodiversity of the area and local skills through the project. The firm has committed to its workforce for the schemes to include 40% drawn from the local area. The design of the schemes will also create new habitats for several protected species by providing new scrubland for badgers and other small animals and utilising a diverse grass and wildflower seeding mix across the coastal embankment to encourage foraging birds.

Denbighshire County Council lead member for highways, transport and the environment Barry Mellor said: “Living on the East Ward of Rhyl where we had the devastating floods in 2015, it is pleasing to stop and talk to residents who are so grateful to both Denbighshire County Council and Welsh Government, and of course Balfour Beatty, as they say they can now sleep peacefully at night with the flooding worries taken away.

“It is also gratifying that Balfour Beatty are employing 40% of the local workforce and 22 apprentices. In addition, it is very encouraging that Balfour Beatty has climate and ecological change at the forefront of any work they will be carrying out.”

Work on both schemes is due to commence later this month, with completion of the Central Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme expected in 2025 and the Central Prestatyn Costal Defence Scheme the following year.

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