Suggs secures final plank on Hastings Pier

It’s a momentous occasion for the community of Hastings and all those involved in this project, which sees the 138 year-old seaside attraction officially completed.  The Pier’s uncertain future has been secured through the devotion of local people who established Hastings Pier Charity and secured an £11.4m grant from Heritage Lottery Fund, kick starting the project with a much needed boost towards the £14.2m target.

The project has had enormous impact in the local area, been a catalyst for creating community spirit and has brought together businesses, schools and local people all in creating a common goal to regenerate Hastings Pier and the local seaside economy.

The 272m long pier now features its sole remaining building, carefully conserved and adapted into a restaurant plus a new visitor centre – The Deck - constructed from cross laminated timber resulting in a lightweight carbon negative structure. The pavilion and visitor centre also feature some of the old timber deck that remained in good condition creating a sense of nostalgia of the pier’s heritage, as do much of the tables and benches to be used on the new pier. The pier’s buildings have been designed to be suitable for a range of functions that will help to secure the pier’s long term financial viability.

Ramboll has overcome challenges particular to the conservation of this large, historic structure in the marine environment. The substructure work involved innovative replacement methods for beams and trusses and the piling method for the new visitor centre, where Ramboll advocated construction from the deck was driven by the limited capacity of the pier. Further innovative approaches included a conservation strategy, surveying a pier with precarious stability, design in the marine environment, a glare study analysis for the originally intended mirrored glass façade to the new visitor centre and environmentally sustainable construction in the marine environment.

Ramboll’s involvement with the pier dates back to 2006, and has played a key role in the restoration and regeneration of this historic pier, offering strategic advice to both the Hastings Pier Charity and Hastings Borough Council. Services have included detailed design, structural engineering and laser scanning for the repairs to the substructure, technical input on heritage, conservation engineering, marine engineering, environment and ecology, facades and building services engineering.

Hastings Pier is the latest in our extensive portfolio of restoring and saving approximately one fifth of the UK’s prominent seaside piers.