Beaches are an important resource to many around the world, whether for amenity and recreation, providing important habitat for rare and endangered species, or for providing a first line of defence against coastal flooding and erosion.
Halcrow has a wealth of experience of beach management for each of these important and often conflicting functions of the beach environment. We believe that beach management needs to be considered in the context of managing all aspects of the beach environment and should seek to sustainably manage in a holistic way the different uses and functions of the beach.
Our expertise in coastal engineering and management allows long-term sustainable solutions to be developed, taking account of the prevailing coastal processes that influence beach dynamics as well as the implications and opportunities of beach management for environmental features and recreational use. Halcrow’s experience in this field includes development of both site specific (operational) and strategic (regional) beach management plans.
Our specific expertise in beach management includes:
- Design of beach renourishment schemes with associated control structures and maintenance operations.
- Environmental assessment of management options and schemes.
- Economic appraisal including valuation of intangible assets such as amenity.
- Assessment of coastal processes and beach morphology, supported by numerical modelling and analysis of beach monitoring data to both inform scheme/maintenance design and health and safety beach management.
- Monitoring and management of beach nourishment.