He organised the reconstruction of all the main roads, saw to the rebuilding of the council offices and Hampton Pier and led the construction of a new sea wall.

[9][11] However, by virtue of his duties as Surveyor to the council, he contributed to a great extent in providing employment and in making the town what it is today.

All this digging was certainly appreciated by the acquisitive antiquarian, Dr Tom Bowes, who subsequently donated stone tools, pottery and artefacts, found by workmen and builders, to the collection that was to become Herne Bay Museum and Gallery.

He was responsible for the 1903–1904 reconstruction of 350 feet (110 m) of Hampton Pier "which sets as a protection against the inroads of sea along the whole front" of the town.

[2] Palmer prepared a scheme for laying out, draining and scarping East Cliff, which cost £40,000, labour being supplied by the Central Unemployed Body For London.

In 1903 to 1904 Palmer planned and oversaw the building of the first phase of the Pavilion in his free time as a "labour of love.

The whole of the site was then covered with a solid mass of Portland cement concrete 18 inches (46 cm) thick, which when finished left the ironwork completely embedded in the same.

[2] For this, he had to dig an even bigger hole in October 1912: "many thousands of yards of London Clay" were removed by his team to extend the building into the cliff.

[2] The total cost for this phase was £6,000, the high price reflecting the excavation work and the new and fashionable use of ferro-concrete.