Furzey Island Breakwater

We have been undertaking some work on Furzey Island, a small Island rich with wildlife including red squirrels and golden pheasants, located in Poole Harbour.

Map with a pin showing the location of Furzey Island

The task is to rebuild an existing 30m long breakwater using 200 tonnes of large stone; ranging from 1/2 a tonne to 1 1/2 tonnes each! All of which are supplied by our sister company; Suttle Stone Quarries from California Quarry in Swanage.

Some of the Purbeck stone boulders supplied from California Quarry in Swanage

As it’s on an island it makes the logistics slightly more complex than usual, requiring the stone which is usually delivered by road on a lorry, to be taken, still in a lorry but by putting the lorry on a barge that can carry a 100 tonne load! The barge takes the lorries from Port of Poole to Furzey Island and back. With each leg of the journey taking 1.5 hours (to travel about 2 miles!).

The lorries being transported to Furzey Island via a barge

Last week they were lucky enough to have a dolphin escort for one of the journeys, dolphins have been spotted in Poole Harbour, Studland and Swanage Bay a few times over the summer but it is pretty unusual!

The breakwater under construction

All of the work was carried out with a Marine Management Organisation license.

The breakwater under construction

You can read the full case study in more detail here.