VIDEO: Another milestone for £100m Boston Barrier as huge defence gates brought across North Sea

Their arrival across the North Sea marks another significant milestone in the construction of the £100m Environment Agency scheme.

The vertical sector gates will be one of the final large components of the scheme, which will help protect hundreds of homes and business.

The gates were transported across the North Sea from Rotterdam by barge, as was the primary barrier gate, which opened in December 2020.

The Boston Barrier scheme is expected to be fully completed at the end of 2022. Work on the scheme, which was identified by the Government as critical infrastructure, has continued in line with the Government’s coronavirus advice.

Adam Robinson, Boston Barrier Project Director for the Environment Agency, said: “The delivery of the vertical sector gates is another exciting milestone in this important scheme which takes us one step closer to final project completion.

“These new gates will replace the current ones installed at the Port of Boston wet dock entrance, which were overtopped in the 2013 tidal surge. They will ensure continuity in the defence and better protection of homes and businesses downstream of the primary barrier gate over the next 100 years.”

The gates were lifted from the barge by crane onto Self-Propelled Modular Transporters, a type of remotely controlled vehicle, and were driven to a temporary storage location on site in the coming days.