Client: Denbighshire County Council
Architect: Denbighshire County Council
Contractor: Alun Griffiths Contractors

Marine Lake, Rhyl is situated alongside the River Clwyd estuary easily accessible from Rhyl Harbour. Previously an area of marshland, Marine Lake is now the only saltwater lake in Wales. 

Following the success of funding availability from Welsh Government in late Autumn 2015 a Senior Engineer at Denbighshire County Council designed and tendered the Project with the construction phase commencing in March 2016 with Alun Griffiths Contractors from Abergavenny. At the design stage DCC began discussions with Hardscape to explore materials to re-landscape the run-down highway area in and around the entrance to Marine Lake.  

The concept

The Engineers design vision was to source a paving material with a specific colour to tie in with the blue street furniture that is present on the entrance into Marine Lake which is directly adjacent to the site to keep an aesthetic continuity going and create an appealing and refreshing view for visitors and pedestrians walking around nearby Westbourne Avenue, Rhyl. 

The objective was to help facilitate an increase in employment levels by providing opportunities for residents to undertake key journeys to industrial and retail centres in Rhyl and the surrounding towns, via a choice of sustainable transport methods i.e. by foot, bike or bus. 

Materials used

Hardscape supplied approximately 560m2 of Kellen Breccia Bianco, Tagenta B and a new Kaleido mix of 2mm-4mm light blue re-cycled glass blended in the top layer of Breccia Bianco setts. Prior to concluding the decision for the paving Hardscape were able to produce samples of the percentage Kaleido mix to ensure the client was completely assured. The scheme completed in Spring 2016. 

The end result

The project set out to improve access to employment by improving existing sub-standard walking and cycling facilities in the area, particularly those routes that link large residential areas to key transport interchanges like Rhyl Railway and Bus station. 

During the design process the challenge to the Senior Engineer at Denbighshire County Council was trying to create a landscape that would revitalise a run-down area but also trying to be inventive on a very tight budget of £200k. 

Specifying such a bespoke, bright and subjective colour for the paving was a challenge as concerned people may have not liked it. Since implemented complimentary remarks have been received from visitors and locals to the area. 

With the new enhanced paved areas, cycleway and walkways visitors can now enjoy this enhanced area of highway directly adjacent to Marine Lake which provides many watersport facilities such as sailing, kayaking, water skiing, wakeboarding, knee boarding and windsurfing. There is also a historic miniature steam railway which runs around the perimeter of the Lake which was built in 1911 and still operates seasonally making it Britain’s oldest miniature railway line.