A cobbled road: marina

Friday, 8 November 2019

Newton Marina works, 2019 - NaBloPoMo #8

Over the past seven months, I've watched with interest how the derelict foreshore of Goat Island is being transformed into a marina. A huge amount, 44,000 tons, of aggregate has been dumped on the place, and a substantial amount of land was reclaimed from the sea. The basin in which the boats will eventually be moored was dredged out using a method with bunds. This means that you build a pier of rocks into the sea, then remove the bund again whilst dredging out the sea around it - and from the location where the bund was located. There were seven such bunds, but that work is now complete. Dredging also took place from a barge, moored in the old basin. As I type this, the first of the pontoons is being installed. Once completed, the marina will be able to house 80 yachts. The marina in the Inner Harbour here in Stornoway can house a similar number.

The first of the bunds

Working the bunds

Walking on water in October

Constructing the slipway

State of affairs 8 July

Marine dredging

A sgoth nosing around the works early in September

Constructing the breakwater at sunset in October

Removing the railings along the causeway

Constructing the pontoons, early November

This picture shows the works on 6 November

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Marina

In the basin across from my position, work has been afoot since the beginning of May to construct a marina. After various wrecks had been removed, hundreds of loads of aggregate (rock) were dumped. These were distributed into so-called bunds - which look like piers - from which a large digger would excavate the surrounding waters. The soil that was dug up is being used to build up a foundation for the marina. This still has got a long time to run, most of this year if not into 2020. Fascinating to watch, and fascinating to assess the effect of the tides. A lot of the bunds and other features currently in existence are submerged at high tide.

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