In the other pic you can see the completed section of the wall. That video represents a nightmare scenario, no beach, no waves and similar to Zen's story ie man made interference gone wrong. The whole buy back argument being too expensive is a crock of shit. It has to be worth a look. Florida is an example. Some interesting papers about building seawalls and the effect it has on risk perception in the post Tsunami context in Japan: Littlejohn (2020) "Dividing worlds tsunamis, seawalls, and ontological politics in Northeast Japan" I have written to the Office Of Local Government about my concerns over the hiding of the second DA. Cyclonic activity isnt forecast to increase at all - I think the jury actually out on that at the moment, east coast of Australia in a 500 year dip too on cyclonic activity. Collaroy Sea Wall Client: Citilink Piling With such close proximity to the ocean, our client tasked us with producing an alternative to the commonly used polystyrene forms. Zen, it looks like an absolute disaster but Im guessing its not so much about coastal erosion but more about tsunami mitigation?? Last Model Run: 15 Jan 11:00AM Local time (AEDT) 15 Jan 12:00AM GMT Data Status: OK. Run Age 9hrs. The co-founder of Ksubiis to launch a '70s surf-inspired hotel on New South Wales' Mid North Coast. @Tango I am actually shocked the collaroy houses in particular have gone up in value - i wouldnt be able to sleep at night living there! Posted the story from that link here. My view is if it cannot be protected by environmentally sound methods then that is the owner's problem. That's assuming the properties are still worth something to the market. If that is to be avoided there needs to be a concerted effort to gain the support of the wider NB community to create pressure on the council to develop a more acceptable plan. the council up here is anti sea walls, but there is a thread that runs through them very much of "stuff the beachfront guys - they are rich". >> Quite a worrying statement to begin with. The 18-year-old scored a near-perfect 9.50 in the Final, held at Seaside Reef in Encinitas, California. "Once this is up it'll be a momentum for others to do it too," said Orth. If it were replicated along vulnerable areas of the NSW coast (and that of other states) we would never be able to afford adaptation. Fvck the coastline. Around 80 percent of the cost will be shouldered by the property owners themselves while the remaining 20 percent will be jointly funded by the Northern Beaches Council and the NSW government. Painful to see such a blunt object of a solution. The UNSW Centre is called the Water Research Laboratory. Is Carties a perfect candidate for a coastal engineering and resculpting project that kills two birds with one stone: that fixes the harbour entrance shoaling problem and turns Carties into an actual quality wave? btw- that one is a tiddler compared to what they have here. I like the cut of your pedantic job, there Lilas. What insanity! There isnt much fetch so its only ever weak 1-4ft tops of onshore wave after wave onslaught, this a particular problem at high tide caus most bays and points usually go flat at high tide but under an easterly scenario the easterly windswell pushes right up to the dunes, and easterly swells require lots of wind and from what Ive read on swellnet these large storms if the pressure is low enough will raise sea levels higher than normal. The Collaroy Beach coastline on May 6, 2016 before major storms swept the shoreline. So where public assets like roads are involved things get really sticky. Plop! If you are referring to Vertical hard structures then that needs to be specified). How about dredging narrabeen lagoon?? But, I think its just basically supply and demand. Locate courts, tribunals and offices. It would be fascinating to see the NSW Cabinet documents which advocated for this approach. EDIT: Just to be clear, the issue of erosion has nothing to do with sea level rise, climate change, or buying the latest board. Including the residents behind the great wall. The sooner we (as humans) acknowledge the nature of nature, and work with it instead of against it, the better for everybody. I dare say the neighbours are on notice too. In 2017, Gold Coast City Council funded, in conjunction with threatened property owners, an artificial reef offshore from Palm Beach. Indeed. Joint Venture adopts new name, Te Puna Aonui. As you know we have the Great Ocean Road down here , which was a huge Tourist attraction ( before Covid.) BB who is getting the sand which has gone from here? @dawnperiscope. If so, I presume it may slow around the reef, but then continue north on a more normal migration speed. The people responsible for awarding the contracts get huge kickbacks. Not to mention the many brutalist houses dotting its once beautiful headlands. As far as I know their job was to asses the designs given to them by the Coastal engineers, not to actually create any designs. The beginnings of a huge $25 million concrete wall in Collaroy on Sydney's Northern Beaches. The role of the council in all this might come out if people push hard enough. Surely, private properties can be protected but public amenities will require huge ongoing costs to keep up with the public requirement (sand nourishment is the first thing that comes to mind). In 1974I witnessed what cyclonic ocean power can do to ignorantly planned beach development 50 years on and a lot of sea miles under my belt. Yep. Everything else may go but that wall is here to stay. Old dude making a dash for it, budgie smugglers and a cricket cap. A band of knowledgable people have gotten together and are in discussions about it and coming up with arguments and alternatives against it. There's been a lot written about the challenges of the various adaptation options, including the purchase of private lands. I can't believe that those structures have been built in 2021 and that the legislation still hasn't been amended to counter the property rights of the owners. I'm not entirely sure, but one of the reasons why an offshore reef structure hasn't been considered for Narrabeen may be because it's part of the Northern Sydney Protection Zone, hosting submarine cables that connect Australia to various parts of the Pacific (including Japan). IT WILL NOT FUCKN WORK YA FLOGS.. 5/6 NE SWELL NOW.. a proper ECL .. will destroy it .. this frustrates me .. Yes it is. Your browser has JavaScript disabled. Instead they provide a caveat for bulldozing sand from low on the beach to higher on the beach in times of heightened storm activity - which only lowers the beachs natural defence system. We all know there is significant increases in sea level rise..are we setting a precedent that if your coastal property succumbs to coastal erosion, you should be financially compensated? There have been high profile storms on the NSW East Coast since the mid-70s. The Palm Beach artificial reef is now completed. Whether the NSW state government / local council want to backflip with a pike on their current failing seawall master plan is another thing. Collaroy's existing situation is precarious at best. @yeti. You shouldve known by 1990. If they are falling into the ocean or they require extensive works or continual maintenance, then what is the market value? Yep. Collaroy seawall project | Protection from coastal erosion Watch on Location: Collaroy NSW Our specialist staff were engaged by the Northern Beaches Council to construct the 250m rock revetment seawall in front of the Collaroy Beach carpark. When the CBA or risk assessment work is done with good information about the things to be lost (eg the beach, public access, amenity, etc) it can shift the outcome of the analysis significantly, particularly the "do nothing" which is actually doing something. Tetrapods work but don't protect the adjacent beach very well unless there are multiple groynes. Would be really good to see an article on the current state of affairs in the Coastal engineering world. The market knows the insurance companies know this. It's an interesting point whether you just blame the owners for buying a house in such a risky area and hoping taxpayers will bail them out, versus the fact that the council must have approved people building houses there in the first place (although possibly a very long time ago), "Professor Short said the council bought properties along the beachfront and turned them into parklands in the 1970s and attempted to put a moratorium on redevelopment in the 1980s, but lost its case in court.". It didn't last long and within 12 hours the sand that was built up against the near finished first wall was 2/3rds washed away. Yes and do they have tactile indicators in the correct place? Bullshit. A weather-beaten cement plaque with the year 1952 is still visible along a section of the seawall. For me, the value of these properties is in the negatives and at the very least, its a big fat round calamari. Angus Gordon, an engineer with fifty years experience in coastal engineering, assumed the same. However the short period easterly swells go straight into all parts of the surfcoast digging it up and turn almost every beach with low swell energy into an ugly mess. However, theres an irony that could've beenliftedstraight out of a script for Utopia. Rad demo john interesting as Craig said to see the changes in shock waves returning seaward. Might chat about it at some point Craig Brokensha, and anyone with deeper connections or insights, feel free to pass me their contacts and we can compare notes and research and discussion points. The 18-year-old scored a near-perfect 9.50 in the Final, held at Seaside Reef in Encinitas, California. I think the wall is actually a good warning of exactly what governments mean by "adaptation and mitigation"..expensive projects for the construction industry rather than sound ecological management. Here's a screengrab from the website about the proposed breakwall extension: It seems that the main concern about the extension is the interruption of the natural flow of sand onto Mooloolaba beach and hence increased erosion risk. The primary mechanism for coastal land acquisition in NSW has been the Coastal Lands Protection Scheme, but it wasn't designed for climate/erosion buy-backs. It would be a good idea to put in a surf cam in that pans up and down the wall to document any changes to the beach, sand movements, erosion problems etc. Has any one ever suggested an off shore reef, seems like a win-win or is the sea floor unsuitable? Thanks, Lilas, I agree with there being challenges inherent in generalising, but I'm going to resist the temptation to take our shared pedantry down the rabbit hole this time! I suppose there are still those with more dollars than sense, but for me, the land is as good as built below the high-tide mark. Hi Lost, yes there is another option - see my 2 posts above. They may have a wall, but there will be no beach in front of it. Sorry Peter but we can't just take you on your word for it. Given that it seems to fly in the face of best practice, has anyone asked what the NSW Coastal Council has to say about it? I think they saw an opportunity to get landowners to pay for something that they would very likely have to do at some point anyway. Could be some good entertainment next time some serious swell hits. Climate projections will have some Australian surfers rejoicing, and others not so. and the sick irony of the beach access sign detailing the seawall works with all "enquires to be made 1. Soon It Will Be Filled With Concrete.'. Check this out. In the Doc below, They advised to do more Numerical modeling [Physics simulations] to be sure of the walls effect. In Japan, their solution is to just go bigger and higher . Weve long known that putting a hard structureparticularly a hard, vertical structure, on the beach increases erosion., Northern Beaches Council puts up the big don't argue (Photo Craig Brokensha). Hi Mark. Owners of storm-devastated Collaroy properties on Sydney's northern beaches face paying up to $140,000 each for a new sea wall that might have saved their homes had it been there at the weekend. Apologies for misreading you. I guess that makes offshore options quite limited, So I'm a little confused as to why there are hardly any real solutions put forward to deal with coastal erosion in 2021, despite our huge body of scientific knowledge regarding the issue. Comparing the swell to those of last year it wasn't of any major significance but it shows the futile efforts trying to protect property with a hard structure. Hence, they are of no market value to me. The seawall is probably built over them. In 2002, about 3000 people took to the beach to protest a planned sea wall, concerned it could destroy the beach. I posted links to the relevant council pages in the previous story. On the release of his latest edit, R-Cal chats to Swellnet about love and other acrobatics. This has cut into the base of the dunes below the surf club. So there is probably another DA somewhere. There is no better option. There's been significant coastal erosion (acute) along the GOR in recent years, though only a handful of places have experienced coastal recession (chronic). Maybe you New South Weleshpeople do things differently. I wonder if they're intended as some kind of device to absorb/dissipate energy rather than as trafficable stairs? An awkward situation, but only for one of the parties, as the Woz suspends the current Longboard World Champ. South Narrabeen beach is now useless to anyone. The fucking vandals bulldozed down one of the last remnants of coastal heath to get their heavy equipment in. Looking at that DA via Stu's link, it must have taken a considerable, possibly illegal, effort to keep that out of the hands of those community members with a long record of interest in the matter. Anybody heard of rising ocean levels & retreat by wealthy landholders who where allowed to build in the dune systems which nature designed to replenish the beaches? Cheers for the knowledge Craig. Super difficult problem, maybe councils could buy beachfronts then lease back the properties. They are a method of hard engineering. Looks perfect for high tide backwash to spread up and down the beach. The most notable benefit of sea walls is that they provide excellent protection against coastal erosion and flooding. 3) How much has Council spent on legal fees defending Land & Environment Court appeals related to seawalls since the 2016 storm? The Gold Coast has undoubtedly the most at risk coastline in Australia. We do, but unfortunately we also have a pervasive mindset in surfing that everything should stay the same as it was back in the good old days. Just like when the stock price of a company increases because of a speculated takeover bid. Seems from my research, we have actually made a lot of progress towards physics-based numerical modeling of near-shore/beach environments in the last 20 years or so. https://files.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/collaroy-na https://nationalprecast.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Collaroy-Beach https://www.9news.com.au/national/weather-nsw-sydney-collaroy-surfer-pul https://lighthouse.mq.edu.au/article/september-2021/Living-Seawalls-in-g https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/tarzans-stormy-st-clair-skinny-dip. Here's the full video with audio. If you don't know know shit about the processes of the ocean and coastal erosion then please put your hand up and say so. You said "They get paid to do what they are told to do" Were they told told to design a system that would not work for the purpose and only exacerbate the problem? Separately at the Collaroy pool end of the beach when the walk way became unstable they just craned in these massive bags of rocks on top of each other and said job done - ugly as fuck. Seawalls of this design have been shown - all over the world- to destroy beaches. Same old issues, with a more educated market. No fuckers complained about the rebar reef. Our timber guide wall formwork is not only reusable and 100% recyclable, it also prevents dangerous polystyrene fragments from entering the ecosystem. 2)How much did the Collaroy Carpark Coastal Protection works cost? Lets do the modelling and begin building offshore wave traps and manmade surf-breaks. We had made a big mistake that would become bigger. Men sand-bag properties on Collaroy Beach Arlington Building and a run of houses to the north circa 1922. There is a significant risk that, as Craig suggested, end wall erosion will simply move the problem and lead to calls for extending the wall. Surfers, sun bathers and swimmers. At what point are they a write-off? Thanks Lilas, totally get where you're coming from and taken on board. If that was the only report they did then it would be good to know on what scientific advice, if any, they changed the plan. This is the only plausible outcome from the hard seawall construction and the engineers would have known this. People need to be absolutely on top of the approval process in their local area if they want to have a hope of preventing these structures. I'd reckon the road, arterial services (electrical, sewerage, etc) and the houses all factors. Building up during periods of low swell energy, while being transported into the surf zoneduring periods of high swell energy, acting as a buffer to the incoming surf. Rather than a natural ebb and flow of wave energy, a hard structure increases reflective energy and turbulence, making it difficult for sand to settle and accrete. The reef/sand nourishment are both mainly designed to widen and protect the public property, ie the beach, in front of the buried seawall. Those first couple of staircases looked fucked. You wouldn't accept that in a bridge from an engineer, so why accept it in anything else? Further to the north, sand that was built up in front of properties has been scoured away leaving an eight foot drop-off. Thanks again for your time and effort to make these articles, as we all truly appreciate them. Get Pro. I definitely disagree with a buy back. This forms a foredune and a backdude. The Collaroy Beach seawall project was put to the test for the first time today with the arrival of a moderate to large east-northeast groundswell from ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth, coinciding with a king tide. Yep pretty significant increase in the height. It's like companies using buybacks in a crisis. So fkd how big some of those sea walls are and just ruin the towns completely and those that rely on the area, Theyve done the same thing to much of Taiwans coast, see eg: http://www.irjes.com/Papers/vol6-issue10/F61012431.pdf. Though with 80 properties at risk, and coastal real estate prices at a premium, they gave up on that approach in 2007. governments recently built a bunch of groynes around the Murray street area. What an absolute joke of a mess this has turned into. Criticism of the debris left on the beach, the erosion as the sea ran up against the wall and drew away all the sand during January 2022 swells and the manner in which these works have been carried out prompted council staff to investigate a number of times during the heavy swells, and has been under regular inspection since then. Just look at the surfcams tommorow morning, will be another case of ugly easterly that will make problems worse. I have to disagree. It's corrupt to the eyeballs and the only winners are the crooked pollies and the dodgy construction companies while the once beautiful Japanese coastline is lost forever. Perhaps off topic in relation to the above story but thought this video was interesting in regards to how certain structures change the amount of erosion and inundation behind structures from wave/tidal run up. On Saturday November 27th hundreds of locals came down to Collaroy Beach / North Narrabeen Beach in grim weather conditions to protest the monstrous 7 meter . Around the reef, but only for one of the walls effect and are in discussions collaroy sea wall protest it and up... Various adaptation options, including the purchase of private lands, their solution to. Name, Te Puna Aonui normal migration speed anything else hence, they are falling the! The challenges of the wall a momentum for others to do it,. About it and coming up with arguments and alternatives against it to Zen 's story ie man interference! 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