White Rock Hastings

Hastings is a seaside town on the south coast of England in East Sussex. In 2022 a private property had been experiencing minor rockfall issues from the rockface directly behind the property. The geology of the rockface comprised siltstone, sandstone and mudstone with several changes in slope angle and bedrock quality. Due to the proximity to the coastline, the potential for corrosion needed to be considered. Due to the limited space between the property and the rockfall, a rockfall fence was no option.

Interbedded sandstone, mudstone and siltstone (Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation)

Working with Kent & Sussex Geotechnical, we assisted in assessing options for the stablisation of the rockface. Due to the anticipated atmospheric corrosion on site, a stainless steel stablisation was the best option to ensure the maximum possible design life for the project in a coastal environment. Using information from the site and geotechnical data for the bedrock units and RUVOLUM, a TECCO G65/3 stainless solution was appropriate with a horizontal and vertical nail spacing of 2.2 metres for the upper sandstone and siltstone units. The lower mudstone unit on site caused concerns due to its higher weathering rate than the upper sandstone and siltstone units. The solution for the mudstone was a shotcrete solution beneath the rock slope stablisation. The installation of the TECCO system utilised rope access from the top of the slope.