The first slabs of limestone have been placed as breakwaters in the construction of Western Australia’s $250 million Ocean Reef Marina.
Ocean Reef is a suburb about 25km north of Perth, and its new marina will require almost one million tonnes of locally sourced limestone and granite.
The supply and construction of the breakwaters will be undertaken by WA Limestone and Italia Stone Group and is expected to be complete by mid-2022.
WA Limestone director Steve Della Bona said the company was proud to help in transforming the beachfront.
“WA Limestone is proud to be associated with this contract that will add such a huge infrastructure boost to the area and significantly better boating facilities to the local community,” Della Bona said.
“We will drill, blast, sort, transport and place over 1.2 million tonnes of product. We are expected to create between 100 to 120 new jobs over the next 18 months in the seawall/breakwater construction phase and that in itself is a fantastic opportunity to be a part of.”
Limestone from Neerabup Quarry will provide the breakwaters’ limestone cores, while granite from Byford Quarry will protect the structure from erosion.
Western Australian Minister for Lands Tony Buti said the community can’t wait to see the project up and running, after the State Government gave it the green light more than a year ago.
“Ocean Reef Marina is at an exciting stage and will really start to take shape in the coming months as the breakwater rocks are lowered into place,” Buti said.
“Local jobs are being created and local rocks are being used to build what will become Western Australia’s premier recreational boating destination.”
Emily Hamilton is the Member for Joondalup, of which Ocean Reef is a part, and said the benefits of the development are abundant.
“This is an exciting moment for our local community with the next stage of the Ocean Reef Marina construction underway,” Hamilton said.
“Thousands of jobs will be generated by this iconic development, and some $3 billion will be injected into the WA economy – making it an important project for our state.
“This is a decades-in-the-making project that will deliver massive benefits to the local community with new facilities, recreational areas and job-generating businesses.”
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