A construction worker has revealed the daily barrage of abuse he endured while working on a nearly £20m sea wall that sparked public outrage. Eric Wade, a former aircraft engineer from Wallasey, spent seven months toiling on the West Kirby sea wall project for civil engineering firm Volkerstevin.
The contentious scheme, which racked up a final bill of £19.7m and was completed between 2022 and 2023, aimed to shield homes along the West Kirby seafront and save lives during severe storms.
Despite facing fierce opposition and petitions against it, the sea wall has since won over many local residents. Local councillors have reported a surge in positive feedback about the promenade’s enhancements, with more visitors flocking to the area post-completion.
Yet, beneath a recent social media update from Wirral Council depicting the wall successfully holding back the tide, Mr Wade said: “I put up with seven months of daily abuse working on that job. Proved mine and the other lads’ hard work actually works. I’ve never been spoken to so badly in my life as I did working on that job.”
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, he said: “As a whole, it wasn’t all bad but there was a lot of negativity towards the job from the local population.”
He explained that during construction, many roads and pavements were cordoned off, but locals would often remove signs and barriers to walk through the site.
When confronted, Mr Wade said people would argue back, adding: “You obviously got a mouthful trying to stop them coming through. I couldn’t physically stop them but they were putting themselves in danger.”
Some even resorted to swearing and one woman reportedly kicked his car while he was parked on her street eating lunch.
He also shared that when visiting the nearby Morrisons for lunch in their high-vis jackets, they “had a lot of people giving us trouble”.
Over several weeks, he claimed people would leave dog poo inside the water weights used to secure fencing, which had to be moved daily to allow machinery access.
He said this was reported to management, adding: “We had a lot of people not wanting us there. We had people parking their cars in the way on the road. It would stop the job. We had to call the policy a few times.” H
e also said he was not the only worker getting abuse and wishes the issue had been acknowledged, adding: “It was quite an experience.”
Mr Wade expressed his pride in the project, stating: “It was a good job and I am happy with the way it was finished. I think it looked good. It needs to be updated. The prom was a bit run down. The pavement and the fencing needed some money spent on it. Since then, it has been shown to actually work.”
Addressing those who criticised the workers, he suggested they should have saved their concerns for the official council channels: “I think people like me, we were just trying to make a living. We never designed it and we never said the costs would go up so much further. We were just doing what we were asked to do. Hopefully if you look back in a few years, you will look back positively on what we have done.”
He added: “It does look better and hopefully it will save the houses from being flooded for years to come.”
Councillor Liz Grey, the chair of Wirral Council’s environment committee and supporter of the project, shared that many initially sceptical individuals had changed their minds since the project’s completion. Although this was the first she’d heard of abuse received by staff, Councillor Grey dubbed the insinuations regarding dog fouling as “disgusting behaviour”.
“I am really upset and disappointed that some members of the public thought it was appropriate to talk to people in that way,” she added, expressing sympathy for the workers who were caught in the backlash. “It must have been so frustrating for the workers who would have had to go out of their way to clean up and move things again. I am really sorry to hear what they went through because all we saw was really hard and efficient work.”
She said, “There are a lot of people praising the work and the quality of the workmanship. I just thought they were wonderful. They were there in all weathers. They were there all day. I was inspired by their work ethic.”
A spokesperson for VolkerStevin rsaid: “The welfare and wellbeing of our employees has always been, and always will be our priority. We had a customer team based on site with a dedicated office for members of the public to direct any questions or queries, these would then be escalated to senior management if required. Following completion of the wave wall the feedback we have received from residents has been very positive.”
Councillors Andrew Gardner and Tony Cox, known critics of the sea wall project, failed to respond when approached for comment.
