The £500,000 contract has been signed and sent to ELCO, the New Zealand-based webbing manufacturers and Unique, the geo-textile bag manufacturers.

The webbing base and 55 bags, which will be up 70 metres in length when pumped hard with sand, cover an area the size of a football pitch, and be positioned underwater 225 metres out to sea to the east of Boscombe Pier.

The first of three consignments, which will include the webbing base and first section of the bottom layer of bags, will arrive in the UK at the end of May 2008, having travelled 12,000 miles (19,000 km) by sea. The reef will be constructed during the summer months, when there are calm sea conditions. The sand needed to construct the reef has been harvested from the beach replenishment programme that took place in March 2008, and is being stored on Boscombe beach.

New Zealand-based Dr Kerry Black is the designer of the reef. ASR Ltd, Dr Kerry Black’s company, has been revealed as the constructor of the reef, on a performance-based contract, ensuring the reef will be perform to pre-stated standards.