New homes bring a little bit of Dubai to Lancashire coast

Home buyers don't have to be millionaires or move across the world to live in a home that's taken a little inspiration from the Palm Island project in Dubai. Redrow is applying a similar ‘sand-from-sea' reclamation technique to that used to construct the Dubai holiday homes hotspot, in order to raise site levels at its newest venture in Lancashire - Harbour Village, in Fleetwood.

The process involves dredging sand from the adjacent navigable shipping channel and pumping it to the 30-acre site in order to raise general site levels by roughly two metres.

Similarly, in the United Arab Emirates, a palm tree shaped, man-made island of luxury mansions was created using rocks and sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Celebrity owners in Dubai are rumoured to include David Beckham and Ralf Schumacher.

Redrow's venture of 380 new homes is yet to attract its first home owners with sales due to launch this summer, but the reclamation work costing circa £5 million is already underway.

Gary Winder, from White Young Green, consultant engineers engaged by Redrow, says: "In the UK when navigationally dredged sand is not simply disposed of back out at sea it is often recovered for sale to the construction industry or used for the restoration and replenishment of beaches and coastal protection works.

“Overseas however, the technique is more widely applied and in the most ambitious projects is applied to reclaim coastal land from the sea such as ‘The Wave' in Oman and create whole new islands such as the ‘Palm Island' development in Dubai. The reclamation of a brownfield development site in the UK for residential use, comprising the import of dredged sands is quite unusual and I'm not aware of any other such schemes in the UK."

Westminster Dredging hold a contract with the Stena Line ferry company to maintain the navigable channel out into the Morecambe Bay, clearing the way for the ferry from Fleetwood to Larne, in Northern Ireland. They normally dispose of the dredged sand at sea in a designated area, under a license issued by DeFRA, but are obliged to find alternative beneficial uses for the sand when they can.

As Gary explains "The opportunity to use navigationally dredged sands as a means of raising site levels enabled the redevelopment of this site to be economically viable and was a better environmental solution than the potential alternatives which would have involved considerable lorry movements and associated impacts. A considerable amount of consents, permits and licenses were required to enable these works to take place and we acknowledge the tremendous support that we received from the Environment Agency"

The company carrying out the dredging work at Fleetwood - the Westminster Dredging Company is part of Royal Boskalis Westminster who were involved in the Palm Island project in Dubai. Westminster Dredging Company have been employed by BAE Systems, who were appointed by Redrow to undertake the reclamation work on-site at Harbour Village.

Trish Martinson, senior remediation consultant for BAE Systems and project manager for them at Fleetwood, says: "In total some 190,000m3 of sand is required to complete the filling works. The dredging has taken place in two separate campaigns, allowing time for sand within the channel to replenish in order to obtain the total amount required.

"We completed the first campaign before Christmas and are now just beginning the second campaign, which is due to take approximately four weeks. The whole process involves a specialist vessel dredging the channel by up to 900m3 per load and then adding water, at a ratio of 6:1, from the channel in order to it to make it sufficiently fluid to pump to shore along a pipeline.

"Once the sand has reached the site, the water is drained off and pumped back into the dock under controlled management. All of this work is carried out under a planning permission from Wyre Borough Council and with the approval and consent of both DeFRA and the Environment Agency."

Redrow is investing £5 million in reclamation works to get the 30-acre site purchased from Association British Ports (ABP) ready for housing. The new venture by the award-winning homebuilder promises to offer exclusive living in an up and coming location.

Phil Heaps, Commercial Director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), says: "Harbour Village is an import scheme for Fleetwood, helping to give the port a much-needed facelift and bringing a significant brownfield site back into beneficial use."

"Raising the site levels using sand dredged from the sea has added a different dimension to the project and certainly created a talking point. It demonstrates our willingness to use innovative techniques and also our commitment to the environment.

"Interestingly, the dredged material is owned by the Crown, so Redrow must pay a special levy for every cubic metre of sand used."

Redrow's property mix at the Harbour Village will include starter homes, town houses, semi detached properties and apartments. Large detached houses and penthouses will have spectacular views across the Wyre estuary. The Harbour Village will consist of five key areas: The Marina overlooking the yachts, The Point which looks out to sea, The Estuary overlooking the Wyre Estuary, The Square, formal housing in the centre of the development and The Village area.

To register interest or find out more visit Redrow.co.uk.