With the winter months ahead and less foot traffic at the Table View and Milnerton beach fronts, construction to restore the damaged beach fronts to their former glory is in full swing.
The project at the Milnerton beachfront is currently in its first phase and the Table View beachfront project has progressed well since its commencement in July 2022.
The community and residents’ associations have been hounding the City for years to fix the damaged infrastructure.
“It’s good that something is being done,” says resident Pamela Jones.
TygerBurger has since been inundated with requests about the progress of both projects and reached out to the City for an update.
According to the City, the Milnerton Revetment Project entails the demolition of the damaged stepped structure and beach access ramps and the construction of a geo-container revetment, similar to what was done in Big Bay three years ago.
The contractor went on site in August 2022 and construction is scheduled for completion in June.
In order to mitigate the disruption of construction activities on such a popular beach, the construction operations have been planned in such a way as to ensure that the public has access to the beach and ablution facilities throughout the construction period.
Background
- The project was initiated in 2018 after two storm events in June 2017 and July 2018 damaged the beachfront stepped structure.
- One option at the time was to repair the damaged infrastructure. However, this was not deemed feasible, because the existing infrastructure faces significant exposure to coastal processes and high seas and therefore a proper coastal defence solution is required to ensure long-term sustainability.
- In 2018 a very detailed feasibility study was conducted by coastal engineers to the coastal processes, longterm beach erosion trends and recommended alternative coastal solutions. Those solutions included “hold-the-line options” with different defence structures as well as an alternative to “retreat” and implement a coastal dune.
- Note, subject to site-specific coastal processes and enough space for such a large footprint, a coastal dune is one of the most functional coastal defence options, which also provides multiple direct and indirect social and environmental benefits. “Unfortunately this is not a feasible option along most of our City’s coastline due to high-density urban areas located in close proximity to the high-water mark and the limited space as a consequence. However, Milnerton was an exception and we had the opportunity to retreat hard infrastructure away from the high- water mark and implement a long-term sustainable solution for the beachfront, which also considered climate change and sea level rise predictions, functionality, impact on the natural coastline as well as social impacts,” the City told TygerBurger.
- The proposal to retreat and implement a coastal dune was accepted in 2019, and the “Milnerton Retreat” project was initiated and the budget allocated.
However, due to City-wide Covid-19 budget cuts of all capital projects, the Milnerton Retreat project was reduced from R20 million to just over R10 million.
“Subsequently we decided to split the project in a phased approach in order to align it with the presently available budget. We planned to use the reduced budget and demolish all the damaged infrastructure (which has to be done in any event when we retreat) and construct a short-to-medium term coastal protection structure which will enhance the recreational and amenity value of the beachfront and protect the lifesavers’ building and promenade,” the City says.
The phases
Phase 1 of the Milnerton revetment construction commenced last month and comprises the demolition of the damaged infrastructure and installation of a geo-container revetment (similar to the new Big Bay revetment).
Phase 2 (Milnerton Retreat) will then comprise reconstructing the lifesavers’ clubhouse a few metres landwards, incorporating a frontal dune and adjacent promenade/interface.
The geo-container revetment will be re-used as a sleeping (buried) protection “inside” the frontal dune. This sleeping protection will protect the dune cordon should it be exposed to an extreme sea level event and will ensure the longevity of the vegetated dune cordon into the future.
“Construction is progressing well and the construction is heading toward completion. The public beach access ramp on the Milnerton Golf Club side is open and accessible for the public to use. A temporary lifesaver lookout has been provided during the construction of the southern revetment portion to allow a seamless lifesaving service to operate and we would like to thank the Milnerton Lifesaving Club for their cooperation and patience during the project,” the deputy mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews told TygerBurger.
The ablutions are currently closed due to construction work in the area and temporary public ablutions are provided. The public ablution will be re-opened upon completion of the project.
Table View beach front
With regards to the Table View beachfront, the contractor and the City’s Coastal Management branch requests the City’s Displaced Peoples Unit to assist when indignant people settle in the dune rehabilitation area. The wind nets’ main function is to reduce the movement of wind-blown sand.
To date 94 000 plants have been rescued and planted out on dunes; 162 515 m³ sand has been moved and 23 km netting has been installed.
“The contractor continues to maintain the wind nets and access paths. The nets have functioned as intended and while sand has accumulated seaward and at designated locations adjacent to the kite surfing areas, the adjacent infrastructure has remained sand-free,” Andrews says.
The accumulated sand at each location will be pushed back into the sea before the end of June as part of the annual maintenance and the nets in these locations reinstalled.
There has also been exceptional self-colonisation of vegetation over the dune specifically in the back dune areas over the summer season to date.
“Currently the contractor is undertaking planting of propagated species in preparation for the rainy season. So far 20 000 plants have been planted on the dune in March with an estimated 16 000 still to be planted by end of June, as well as over seeding. The irrigation is expected to be fully operational by end of June.”
The contract for the civils works is pending award in April and is set to start by August.
