Raising the elevation of islands

March 8th, 2009

Nearly every island we have listed needs at least a small amount of filling. As a result, filling an island with sand to raise its elevation is one of our most frequent topics of conversation with our clients.  Even the higher elevation islands can benefit from filling to aid in proper drainage and discourage the ponding of rainwater.

To cover all the details, I’ll need to do this in several postings. I’ll insert a link in each post so if the subject interests you, you will easily find the other postings on the subject.

Filling an island can be completed in various ways.  Each technique has its pro and cons so the ideal method will vary depending on the island, the budget, timeframe, and the long term goals of the project.

If an island is located in an environmentally sensitive area such as a marine reserve, then this must also be taken into account. On some occasions, this means the sea floor must not be disturbed at all.

We’ve met lots of island owners and potential island owners. I have yet to meet one that doesn’t love the environment surrounding a tropical island. Each and every one of them wants to accomplish their goals with the lightest footprint possible on the surrounding environment both above and below the water. With some planning, an effective approach to filling will be found for each situation.

With this in mind, I’ll discuss several critical stages of the filling process and the different approaches available to the island owner.

The topics will be:

• Your island vision.
• Suitability of the island. Can it support the project?
• Timing and budget and return on investment.
• Obtaining permits
• Filling methods; what is sand?
• Dredging
• Drag Line
• Small scale dredge and trash pumps
• Hand filling
• Excavating the island’s own material
• Barging in sand
• Rocks, tubes, and other natural sand gatherers
• Landscaping
• Sea walls

As you can see there is far too much detail to put this into one post. I’ll cover each topic as time permits so please check back often or subscribe to the RSS feed to receive the next post as it’s uploaded!

Categories: island development