19/03/2026
Turtle nesting season and a live construction site. Here's what our team did.
Las Cuevas is one of Trinidad’s designated sea turtle nesting beaches. Each year from March to August, leatherback turtles return to lay. In 2024, the season opened on the same day our excavator arrived to begin foundation works for three new lifeguard towers. Lauriston Lewis Associates Ltd. was engaged as the design-build contractor.
The Ministry of Tourism’s directive was immediate: no heavy equipment on the sand. Buried turtle eggs cannot survive the weight of machinery.
The excavator turned back. The project did not.
Hand excavation was quickly identified as being unfeasible because of the likelihood of loose saturated sand and a high water table near the shoreline causing conventional shallow foundations to collapse and the water table continuously flooding the foundation pits.
Our team drew on prior experience with driven steel pipe piles from hillside and coastal projects in Trinidad and Saint Lucia, and adapted that approach into something workable by hand. The result was a clustered mini-pile system: seven 2-inch Schedule 40 steel pipes per cluster, arranged in a circular pattern and driven to 18 feet entirely by hand, ensuring no heavy vibration from mechanical equipment. The successful ex*****on was possible because of Pro Line Contractors Ltd. whose willingness to pivot and work with an unconventional method, in the field, under difficult conditions was critical.
Three design decisions made this system work in that environment. The pile caps penetrated only 20 inches into the sand, shallower than the typical burial depth of turtle eggs, directly reducing the risk of nest disturbance. Each cluster occupied approximately 8 inches in diameter, allowing the team to work with precision around known nesting areas rather than disturbing a wide area of ground. At that depth in saturated sand near the water table, oxygen levels are minimal, so the corrosion treatment applied to all pipes was sound engineering practice, but the conditions themselves significantly limit long-term corrosion risk.
The outcome was a foundation system that was structurally adequate, environmentally sensitive, logistically workable, and economically responsive under genuinely difficult site conditions. Most importantly, this system allowed the project to be completed without harm or disturbance to turtle nests. Some were later identified, undamaged, within a few feet of our work.
This project is a clear case for why Trinidad & Tobago needs standardised construction specifications for sensitive coastal environments. Methods like this should be documented, taught, and incorporated into standard contract documentation, rather than worked out under pressure on a live site. That conversation belongs in engineering faculties and procurement frameworks, not only on project sites.
Environmental Management Authority
