Work to protect an erosion-plagued section of Ocean Beach at St Clair has been delayed yet again after a contractor erred by overfilling a sand sausage.
Dunedin City Council acting parks and recreation group manager Tom Dyer said the remedial work was now expected to be completed on August 5 instead of the end of this month.
The delay was a result of challenging ground conditions and contractor Downer over-filling a 150-tonne sand sausage, which was one of the largest being installed as part of the work, Mr Dyer said.
The mistake by Downer stressed the fabric and meant a replacement sausage had to be ordered from Australia.
"Delivery times and re-work mean the finish date for the remedial work has been pushed back a week from the end of July.''
The mistake would not cost the council as Downer was picking up the bill.
Despite the delay, the remedial work had gone well and 90% of the structure - made up of 200m of sand sausages - was now complete.
Even before the work was completed it would provide protection against erosion as "almost all'' of the affected area was now protected by sand sausages.
The project to replace previous sand sausages exposed and damaged in last June's storms, was earlier delayed because manufacturing of geotextile bags took longer than expected, pushing back the completion date from mid-June to the end of this month.
Asked if the council was lucky there had not been significant further erosion because of the delays Mr Dyer said: "It is fortunate that sea conditions have been favourable overall during that time.''
St Clair Action Group member Dr Richard Egan said it was a shame the work was not completed earlier, but delays in construction projects were not unusual.
Overall, it was happy with how responsive the council had been about its concerns on the threatened piece of coastline, Dr Egan said.
