AS THE planet heats up and seas rise, they are the latest 鈥渕ust have鈥� for historic coastal cities. London and Rotterdam have them, Venice wants one and now St Petersburg is getting in on the act.
Last week, the Russian city appointed British consultancy Halcrow to design a flood barrier to protect its historic architecture 鈥� including the famous Hermitage museum. At over 25 kilometres long, the barrage will be the largest in the world by far, dwarfing the 3-kilometre Eastern Scheldt barrier in the Netherlands.
Floods already cost the 鈥淰enice of the north鈥� some $70 million a year. Work on a barrage started in 1980, but was halted in 1987 amid fears that it would harm the environment. The city now seems to have put its reticence on hold as it attempts to turn a massive Soviet white elephant into a working modern structure.
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