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Watch work on the new
defences beginning

One giant step for Dymchurch was taken and lowered into place
this week as the first stages of the sea wall took shape.

The first step units have been put
into position near the northern Martello tower, to break up the
energy of the waves as they pound into the shoreline.

A large yellow "vacuum cleaner" was
also used in the work, designed specially for the Marsh. It doesn’t
clean anything, but is designed to use the power of air pressure to
lift the huge, 20-ton concrete steps into position.

The Environment Agency’s area flood
and coastal manager Mark Douch said: "What they are doing is they
are lining the beach with sub-base and lifting the units into place
to break up the wave energy. They are built in a factory in Ireland
and shipped to Rye harbour and craned into position. That way we
don’t have to wait for concrete to cure and dry.

"There is going to be 1,700 of
them, they cost £5,000 each, weigh 20 tons, and there will be a
wave return wall and a promenade above them. They will last 100
years.

"What is happening is they [the
builders] are sinking a row of steel piles to form the frontline.
We will then dig a trench a fill it with stone which forms the toe
of the wall, and then built a slope from stone and put the steps in
place.

"We only have a small tidal window
of four hours every day and as soon as the tide goes out we move on
to the beach and work. It is quite intense. As much work as we can,
we do off-site for that reason.

"The idea is to do the north and
south ends first to reduce the impact on the residents and after
the summer we will move on to the centre.

"At the moment we are on time!"

The £60m scheme, being built by
Birse construction, is due for completion in 2011.

Builders have found remains of the
original hawthorn wall deep in the earth, and some of the work has
had to be done very carefully to avoid upsetting a family of
badgers, who built their den into the earth bank behind the wall
and found themselves surrounded by even bigger diggers than
themselves.

The Environment Agency said it had
to take action as the original defences were at the end of their
life and were extremely vulnerable to weakening.

The new wall is designed to last
100 years, so there will be a whole generation who will never see
it replaced, unlike us.