Controlling the sea

As our towns and cities become more built up and greater volumes of stormwater are pumped into the sea, the beaches we used to picnic and swim at are gradually being eroded away.

A company that has been dealing successfully with the effects of erosion for many years is Auckland Stonemasons. The company was originally set up by current owners Jim and Len Lavas's grandfather when he emigrated in 1927 from a small Dalmatian village that had always specialised in stonemasonry, and it has been building stone walls and sea walls throughout New Zealand ever since.

Erosion had been a significant problem at the beach featured on this page for many years and past efforts to resolve it were no longer effective, so Manukau City Council called for tenders for a new wall design using boulders and topped with a footpath. Auckland Stonemasons won the tender and proposed a variation to the design.

"We felt we could build a stone sea wall that would look better than boulders, be more effective and could be built 20% more cheaply than the original design," says Len Lavas.

"A massive slip recently sent thousands of tonnes of soil over the new wall with no adverse effects on it. In the past, properties on sites close to the wall have had terrible erosion problems. However, recent engineers' reports, published since the wall was finished, have given the properties a zero erosion rating."

Auckland Stonemasons has the expertise to design stone and sea walls in-house, or will work to supplied plans. As well as having many years of experience in this business, the company owns all the specialised and heavy equipment needed to work in difficult and hard-to-access sites.

For further details, contact Jim or Len Lavas at Auckland Stonemasons, PO Box 152, Whitford 2149, phone (09) 530 8906, fax (09) 530 8907. Email: sales@stonemasons.co.nz, or visit the website: www.stonemasons.co.nz.

Story by: Trendsideas