FERRY TERMINALS & MARINAS
Noli-Spotorno tourist harbour: Chiariventi Marina - Liguria, Italy

Client:                        Grandi Lavori Fincosit S.p.A.

Services:                   Preliminary design, environmental impact study, detailed design.

Period:                       1999 - in progress

Construction cost:  € 51.65 million.

The Project:   

For more than ten years, the municipalities of Noli and Spotorno, in the province of Savona in western Liguria, have been considering the construction of a new marina on the mutual border between the two municipal areas,  to boost a section of coastline, in any case of significant historical and environmental interest, which to date is is poorly endowed with pleasure boat facilities.  In 1991 the private Cooperative of Chiariventi was formed with the objective of realizing a new harbour at Chiariventi for pleasure craft. The contractors responsible for the construction, Grandi Lavori Fincosit S.p.A.,engaged Technital for the design of all the infrastructures.

The objectives of  the preliminary design of the new harbour were:

• guarantee at least  600 mooring points and protect the harbour basin from the waves which vary according to the different levels of operation of the berths,

• guarantee the connections of the existing road network with the port area;

• provide for – in the context of realising the harbour utility structures – town planning of the area facing onto the harbour to enhance its tourist appeal;

• respect the environmental and landscaping requirements typical of an area of public interest.

Specialist studies were carried out to support the design works, including mathematical model studies to analyse the wave propagation both outside and inside the harbour area and the littoral drift phenomenon. Careful attention was paid in the design to the choice of the type of protection works for the harbour basin. In the end a vertical-sided breakwater (of caissons) was preferrred over a rubble-mound breakwater, for construction (absence of local stone quarries) and environmental reasons (excessive interference with the valued eel-grass meadow).

Particular attention was also paid to the landscaping of the works to ensure that the new harbour harmonizes with the surrounding coastal environment, planning a large area of vegetation around the harbour, as well as a an attractive stone cladding to mitigate the visual effect of the breakwater wall. The study also demonstrated the negligible effects of the new structure on the littoral drift.

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