13 Oct 2021

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Two damaged and aged sections of Akaroa’s sea wall will be repaired over the coming weeks so that they are in tip-top shape for the summer ahead.

Christchurch City Council has awarded Fulton Hogan the job of carrying out repair and maintenance work on the section of sea wall between:

  • 51 and 79 Beach Road
  • By the Akaroa Recreation Grounds, between the boat ramp and boat park.

The work will start later this month and should be completed by mid-December.

“The sea wall around Beach Road was constructed from unreinforced stone in the early 1900s and it is showing signs of its age,’’ says Council’s Capital Delivery (Community) Manager Darren Moses.

“Constant wave action has undermined it in places and scoured out mortar and sediment. That has resulted in some voids opening up, which in turn has caused the path behind the sea wall to slump.

“What we plan to do is repair the cracks and put additional rock protection in place at the base of the sea wall to support it and protect it from further scouring. We will also fill the voids and repair the path,’’ Mr Moses says.

Similar repairs and maintenance will be carried out on the sea wall by the Akaroa Recreation Reserve as it too is being undermined by wave action.

The total cost of the repairs to the sea wall are estimated at $585,000.

While the sea wall is being worked on some on-street parking in the Akaroa Recreation Reserve and Beach Road will be restricted for safety reasons.

The Beach Road footpath and the Akaroa Recreation Reserve’s harbour edge will also be closed to pedestrians. Beach access, directly below the areas where the contractor is working, will be restricted during low tides.

Public access to the boat ramp though will be maintained for the duration of the works.

“It has taken a long time to obtain the consents needed to carry out the repairs on the sea wall because we are dealing with a heritage structure in a coastal environment, but we are now at the point where work can start,’’ Mr Moses says.

“We know that Akaroa is a very popular spot over the summer months so our aim is to have the work on the sea wall completed by Christmas.’’