Chioggia Flood Barrier Venice

Strukton is collaborating on the construction of the Chioggia Flood Barrier, which is part of the MOSE Project, a storm-surge barrier being built in Italy to enable the Venetian Lagoon to be sealed off from the Adriatic Sea. The storm-surge barrier is being built at the three inlets to the lagoon: at Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. The storm-surge barrier is made up of a system of caissons containing movable flood gates. The system will only be closed in case of extreme high water, similar to the Maeslant Barrier in the Netherlands.

Client:: Venetian authorities
Location:: Chioggia
Status:: In progress
Country:: Italy

Drijvend caisson laatste water uitpompen

Flood barrier

Strukton is responsible for engineering, transporting and immersing eight concrete caissons, each of which weighs some 21,000 tonnes. A movable barrier will be mounted to the caissons; this barrier should protect Venice from flooding.

The barrier will be deployed at water levels 110 cm above normal and is functional up to a water level 3 metres above normal. The maximum height difference between the water on either side is 2 metres. The three inlets can be closed individually or in sections by raising just a few segments. By reducing the width of an opening, the flow of seawater into the lagoon can be slowed.

Project details

The eight concrete caissons were built in 2012 and 2013 in a dry dock in Chioggia, to the north of the Bocca di Chioggia. After construction, the dock was flooded; the caissons now lie in the dock, ready to be floated to the surface, transported and then immersed. Tugboats will be used to transport each of the 21,000,000 kg concrete giants to the lagoon entrance. The last caisson will be immersed at the end of August this year.

Throughout the procedure, Geocon will handle the immersion positioning and OTN the diving work. Strukton Immersion Projects is responsible for immersing the eight caissons.

About the contract

The Venetian authorities are the client in this project. Strukton is performing this work for the Italian consortium Clodia. Strukton's contract has a value of more than EUR 8.0 million.