Calais, France

The Calais Project is the third Xbloc project which was carried out together with Bouygues, after successful projects in Reunion Island and in Dunkerque. With Xblocs of 4, 6, 10, 12 and 14 m3, the project comprises of the largest block sizes applied so far. These large blocks are needed to protect the new breakwater which was built in a very exposed environment with extreme tidal currents and wave conditions. The largest blocks in the project have a height of  3.5 meters and weigh 33 tons each.

The design of the breakwater is prepared by Arcadis and physical model tests were carried out by DHI in Denmark in order to confirm  the design. The production of roughly 110.000 m3 Xblocs started in February 2016 and placement continued until 2021.