The 3rd Berm

Costing a little over £1.5 million, the 3^rd Berm plugged the gap between the previous 2 berms and keeps the sea from getting behind them. This was funded by the Environment Agency with a condition attached that the village of Fairlight had to contribute £150,000. Fairlight Preservation Trust through fundraising events and generous donations raised £75,000 and this sum was matched by Fairlight Parish Council.

Starting in August 2016, contractors JT Mackley & Co built the 270m berm designed by the East Kent Engineering Partnership using around 25,000 tonnes of Larvikite in about 12 weeks. Larvikite, a type of granite, comes from a quarry in Larvik, Norway that produces architectural stone of high quality and the stone that does not make the grade is exported as rock armour for sea defence work. The rock was delivered by the 135m long barge ‘Stema Barge II’ in approximately 9,000 tonne loads and transferred to the smaller barge ‘Charlie Rock’ which unloaded on the beach every high tide. As the tide receded the rocks were loaded onto dump trucks and transported to the awaiting excavators for final placement.

The Government’s environmental advisory body, Natural England would not allow the heavy plant to access the site by travelling along the beach, so it was delivered by sea too. This was carried out by an LCM Mk.9 landing craft the ‘Severn Sins’ from Bideford in Dorset, a Falklands war veteran. HMS Fearless and HMS Intrepid both carried 4 of these and one from Fearless, F4, was tragically sunk in an air raid with the loss of 6 of the ships company.