Perth, Western Australia February 10, 2007 Home News Time Out Letters Write a Letter Classifieds Search Real Estate Trades & Services Submit About Contact Us Advertising Legal	Bargain boulders fix Cott groyne Huge rocks are carefully placed to repair Cottesloe groyne. Big machines on Cottesloe Beach are rebuilding the groyne - and that should make the beach safer for many years, according to town engineer Geoff Trigg. He said trucks would deliver rocks weighing up to 10 tonnes each and they would be placed individually by a 45-tonne crane. A temporary road built for the trucks to reach the groyne would be pulled out when the job was finished. Over its 47 years, the groyne's original stones have been moved by storm waves and spread across the seabed leaving big gaps and the concrete pavement jutting over space. The rebuilding plan is to fill the gaps and spread new rocks around the toe and sides of the groyne to reduce the power of waves slamming into it. Mr Trigg said: "At the same time the profile will be a gradual slope so that people will no longer be able to dive off a rock into reasonably deep water." Some people had objected to the work being done now, at the height of summer, but soon agreed when it was explained that it was the ideal time - when the ocean was calm and between school holidays and the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition next month. The cost of the job by Italia Stone is $260,000; a bargain, according to Mr Trigg, because the council had a budget of $450,000 based on early quotes. Cottesloe council will pay half and the state government half. Mr Trigg said it was a happy mixture of circumstances - the stone had already been quarried with big rocks up to 10 tonnes each, the company had a gap in its projects which matched when Cottesloe wanted to do the job - and the groyne would make a magnificent scene for the construction firm to take promotional photographs and videos. Some people had asked if the groyne could be extended to protect more of Cottesloe Beach from the prevailing summer south-westerly, but Mr Trigg said that would be more expensive and lead to scouring out more sand from the southern side at Mudurup Rocks. There was pressure to improve access for people with a disability; that would involve substantial cost and earthworks to achieve a suitable slope for wheelchairs to reach the beach and would need a major decision by the council. The old wading pool was sawn in half this week and one side would be removed at the end of the groyne job; the southern half would remain as a retaining wall for the paved promenade approaching the groyne. Do you have something to say? Write to us and we may publish your letter next week. BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.