THE Boscombe surf reef is finally being laid on the seabed.

"It's D-Day," said construction manager David Neilson on the eve of work. "We have done all the planning and this is the big one."

The £2.68 million project has been delayed by bad summer weather.

The English surfing season runs from the autumn to spring and the council had originally planned to have the reef completed by the end of August.

"We were hoping to start laying the reef in July but the weather has been shocking," said Mr Neilson, from the firm ASR.

Two barges will begin the work of unfolding the first bags into the water. A team of five divers will connect the bags to hooks on the sea floor. The bags are then dragged down into the water and pumped full of sand until they become as hard as concrete.

Boscombe is undergoing a £10m makeover and the reef is the star attraction which will create around 75metres of surf-able waves.

One thing the reef won't do is create monster waves - its job is shape waves and make them break in the right place.

It will only increase their size by 15-20 per cent. The waves will be better and more consistent than those around Bournemouth Pier.

The reef will be just half a metre below sea level at low tide - you will be able to walk on it and scuba dive off it, to check out the wildlife expected to thrive around it.

The workers will be in action as the air show rages around them. Mr Neilson said: "We might get the odd look, but our hands will be full!"

This is the first stage of work, filling 16 bags over five days, with the reef due to be completed by the end of October - depending on the weather.

Trace the development of the project with our handy timeline, below...