A project to introduce EcoBunker’s Aquaedge solution at Golf Club Lignano on Italy’s Adriatic Coast is progressing well.

The course at Lignano was designed by Marco Croze and opened in the early 1990s. Over time however, the timber retaining walls that bordered the course’s water hazards needed replacing due to wear and tear.

After reading about EcoBunker’s Aquaedge solution in Golf Course Architecture magazine, the club’s director of golf Fabrizio Bertoli spoke to the company with a view to potentially installing Aquaedge at Lignano.

“The timber edgings, which were over 25 years old, were rotting, and the weak clay/silt soils – which were dredged from a nearby marina to raise ground levels during construction – exerted considerable pressure, causing the walls to start failing,” explained Richard Allen, founder and director of Ecobunker. “They represented a significant safety and aesthetic problem.”

A team from EcoBunker installed a 50 metre trial length of Aquaedge along the front of the tenth green. This took just four days to complete, and was very well received by the club.

The club took the decision to commit to a larger implementation project, which is now underway. This will see the Aquaedge solution put in place at numerous locations throughout the course, and will take place over the first few months of 2018.

“The second phase comprises a cumulative 350 metres of Aquaedge,” Allen explained. “Some of this requires construction in deeper water, up to 1.5m at the margin. As with most civil engineering design challenges I’ve encountered, an ‘off the shelf’ solution is not the best approach. I designed a special detail for these deeper wall sections, which has added extra stability within an affordable budget.”