Hythe Ecological Enhancements

Our client wanted to assess the success of a variety of novel ecological enhancement interventions on granite rock armour and timber groynes at the award winning coastal defence scheme at Hythe Ranges. Advice was provided to the client prior to construction on the best enhancements to trial based on the local ecology, environmental conditions and budget. A Hall Marine collaborated closely with the client engineers to innovate new interventions, while minimising risk and ensuring feasibility. During construction of the rock armour defence at Hythe Ranges, more than saw-cut artificial rock pools were installed on the granite boulders using a rock wheel to create depressions in the granite boulders. A variety of timber groyne interventions were also trialled on two timber groynes, which included concrete rock pools (Vertipools™), rope twists, honeycomb blocks and various sized wooden troughs using recycled timber. At the time, this was only the second location in the UK that had attempted to create rock pools on Norwegian granite destined for deployment within a rock revetment, and the first location to trial such a wide range of interventions on timber groynes. 

Annual surveys were conducted for 3 years thereafter to determine how the different interventions increased biodiversity. The survey compared the biodiversity of the interventions with control areas to demonstrate just how effective they were at boosting habitat and biodiversity. Water parameters, including water temperature and salinity, were collected to ascertain any variation between the water retained in the artificial pools and the sea.