Protecting Fort Boyard

An endangered icon of the Charente landscape is to be restored

Built in the 19th century, the Fort was initially flanked by a spur to the north-west, and a mooring harbour to the south-east. 

Postcard of Fort Boyard with its protection structures, around 1900-1915.  ©Archives départementales- édit. J. M. N° 148.​

However, the harsh weather conditions and the storms witnessed over the years have led to the destruction of these protective elements, further weakening the fort. The berm, a masonry structure protecting the base of the building, was also damaged.

Fort Boyard today. ©DynamOcean.​

Tailored measurements for ambitious maritime works

Commissioned by the Charente-Maritime département and led by ETPO group, this major project aims to rebuild the breakwater spur and the harbour, and to repair the berm, so that the Fort is better protected.

Within the consortium, DynamOcean is a subcontractor of Actimar, a company specialising in hydrodynamic modelling: Actimar’s mission is to implement an operational wave model to accurately describe and predict the metocean conditions on site. This model will be used to plan the construction phases while ensuring that the workers can operate safely.

For Actimar to calibrate and validate their model with in situ data, DynamOcean will carry out measurement campaigns during the preparatory phase. The objective is to analyse the wave climate close to the Fort, using an ADCP and a directional wave radar.

The agreement with the project leader ETPO was finalized this summer, and the initial site inspections were subsequently carried out to plan the equipment installation.