Balmoral Beach Seawall

This paper describes the background to the recent works carried out to restore and upgrade the seawall at Balmoral Beach and the impact of unpredictable sea phenomena and considerations of beach amenity upon the final design. Following the collapse of a section of the 1925 seawall during the May 1974 storm design wave conditions obtained using normal engineering methods were inconsistent with both the resulting damage and with eyewitness reports. In the investigation concerning the replacement or repair of the wall, it became apparent that there was considerable conflict between the demands of amenity, aesthetics, economics and engineering performance. A compromise design is described which fulfuls all the required objectives whilst preserving the existing character of the beach.