The Richibucto Small Craft Harbours (SCH) facility is critical infrastructure for the local fishing industry. By 2018, two of the facility’s existing wharves had reached the end of their service life; redevelopment of the facility was therefore required to ensure its continued safe operation.

SHM Canada was engaged to design a new wharf to replace the existing timber pilework and cribwork structures. The new structure was required to retain the footprint of the existing structures and to match elevation with adjacent wharves at the facility. Our design comprises prestressed concrete NEXT beams, reinforced concrete deck and pile caps, and steel H-piles. We successfully addressed challenges presented by ice loading, thick deposits of soft silt/sand at the harbour bottom, and buried historic structural components.

In order to minimize disruptions to wharf users, our design reduced construction time through the use of prefabricated long-span components. The construction schedule was also phased to allow partial access to the structure during construction.

Construction for Phase I of this project is complete. As of December 2020, the tender package for Phase II is complete and construction is pending.