During the refurbishment of a holiday park in Ilfracombe, the owners were concerned by the poor condition of a sea wall at their site boundary. The wall is located above the high tide but is sometimes vulnerable to storm waves. Frederick Sherrell Limited carried out a ground investigation to establish the thickness of the wall and the ground conditions behind the wall. The investigation included coring through the wall, hand dug trial pits and probing. The results indicated that the wall was quite slender and additional lateral support would be needed. Several conceptual design options were considered including rebuilding the wall, but to avoid disturbing the newly refurbished holiday park and to satisfy local planning conditions the preferred option was to use king posts tied back with anchors grouted into the bedrock. The masonry wall was also repaired and repointed where necessary.
The design of the works required the collaboration of Frederick Sherrell Limited with a local structural engineer who specialised in heritage projects. The works were successfully carried out by local contractors during the winter of 2022/2023.