Engineering at the Coast

Question 1

Hard Engineering

Answer 1

• Groynes
• Sea Walls
• Rip Rap (Rock Armour)
• Revetments
• Offshore Breakwater

Question 2

Soft Engineering

Answer 2

• Beach Nourishment
• Cliff Regrading and Drainage (reduce angle of cliff, stabilise. Drainage removes water preventing landslides and slumping)
• Dune Stabilisation
• Marsh Creation (form of managed retreat)

Question 3

Shoreline Management Plans (SMP)

Answer 3

• Aims to leave no impact on the surround cells (‘closed cell’ view)
  Four options:
• Hold the line (often hard engineering)
• Advance the line (beach-nourishment methods and groynes)
• Managed retreat/strategic realignment (deliberate controlled flooding)
• Do nothing/no active intervention (letting nature take its course)

Question 4

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

Answer 4

• Aims to establish sustainable levels of economic and social activity; resolve environmental, social and economic challenges and conflict; protect the coastal environment.
• Complete sections of coastline are managed as a whole (human actions in one place affect another).
• Provides a more holistic overview of the coastline, enabling sustainable measures to be implemented from understanding natural processes and the coastal system.