Holding back the tide: a human-nature partnership against coastal erosion

Sitting on the edge of the UK’s Norfolk coastline, you would be forgiven for missing Bacton Gas Terminal on a map. Adjoined only by two small coastal villages, Bacton and Walcott, it is an unassuming location, and yet it is here that a third of the UK’s gas supply is handled and maintained by operators Shell and Perenco (Bacton Gas Companies).

In December 2013, weather reports indicated that Cyclone Xaver, which had been sweeping across Europe, was over the North Sea, churning up waves, registering 100mph+ winds and creating a storm surge – and it was heading towards the UK.

Storms were not new in this part of the world – in fact, the village of Walcott boasts the only portion of Norfolk’s coastal road that runs along the edge of the sea, making it a popular spot for storm watchers – but after years of storm weather and coastal erosion, the terminal operators had cause to be anxious.

When the surge arrived, Norfolk was hit by the worst floods it had seen since 1953; thousands of homes were flooded, a lifeboat station was swept away, and local wildlife suffered major habitat loss....

A deepening crisis with no clear solution 

Replacing the concrete sea walls, that had defined the region’s approach to coastal erosion to date, was no longer feasible – in fact it would make the situation worse by forcing the impacts of stormy weather down the coast to the neighbouring Bacton and Walcott. That prospect was not something the terminal operators were willing to entertain. 

Along the coast, the local government, North Norfolk District Council (NNDC), faced the likelihood of having to relocate their two communities at Bacton and Walcott within the next ten years. The council’s Shoreline Management Plan for the area concluded that no solution could be found to protect homes in the long term. 

The crisis unfolding seemed unsolvable, and so the Bacton Gas Companies and NNDC each set out in search of specialist expertise to help chart a route out of the dark. Though they set out separately, they set in motion a process that would bring them and the community together and revolutionise the coastal management approach in the UK.

Sandscaping, an engineering art form

Enter Jaap Flikweert and his team. Jaap is a leading flood and coastal management advisor for the UK with Royal HaskoningDHV. His knowledge and expertise have made him a regular media spokesperson on the impact of major flood events in the UK – where he has seen first-hand the devastating impact of storm surges.

Working within Royal HaskoningDHV, a global engineering consultancy driven by a promise to enhance society through sustainable and innovative solutions, Jaap and his colleagues have opportunities to be at the forefront of new innovations in engineering, often collaborating across nations to pioneer new approaches to age old issues.

In this case, the issue was coastal erosion, and the solution had been forged by the Dutch National Innovation Platform on the South Holland coast; in a project supported by Royal HaskoningDHV’s expertise. There, they called it the Zandmotor or ‘sand engine’ – here in the UK we call it sandscaping.

It sounds like an art form – and there is beauty in its design. In simple terms, sandscaping uses dredging vessels to extract millions of cubic metres of sand (to get an understanding of how much that is, imagine your favourite stadium – now fill it with sand) from designated sites on the seabed, belonging to The Crown Estate, before placing it on the coast and using the energy of the sea to distribute it over time; thus bolstering the natural coastline without leaving a mark. 

Forming a united partnership, guided by expertise 

When the Bacton Gas Companies came calling, what began as a potential crisis suddenly became a golden opportunity. “Through our exploration of sandscaping in the UK, we knew that all of the right stakeholders were looking at solving the issue of coastal erosion independently,” Jaap continues, “but when the Bacton Gas Companies reached out, we were provided with an opportunity to bring these interested parties together to implement sandscaping in a way that could prove its feasibility in the UK and open up the doors to a new future of flood mitigation and coastal management.” 

What Jaap and his team quickly realised was that their sandscaping solution could not only protect the Bacton Gas Terminal but, if they worked together, the coastal communities at Bacton and Walcott too. Sandscaping could also restore the beachfront that had fallen away, giving the community a slice of their history back, as well as important business and economic boosts by avoiding erosion and boosting tourism. 

For the Bacton Gas Companies there was the chance to protect their crucial infrastructure – and for NNDC, they had a co-funder who could make a solution possible. So, a unique public/private partnership began – along with The Crown Estate and Environment Agency. 

“You could say that we turned out to be the invisible piece of string that tied all of these various stakeholders together – and in the process we facilitated a larger, very special partnership between the public and private sector. The kind of partnership that is needed to confront major issues such as coastal erosion.”  

So, in 2019 on the stretch of Norfolk coastline – which had been devastated six years earlier – HAM 318, the long flat dredging vessel of contractors Team Van Oord, settled offshore and within six weeks had raised a 6km long beach from the sea. On the shore itself lay lines of pipes, funnelling the sand onto the beach, along with a cavalry of diggers, using GPS to shift it into place.  

Today, following its completion in late 2019, the beach stands as an example of what can be achieved when stakeholders work in the interest of each other and their community. The Bacton Gas Terminal stands protected for a further 15-20 years – with close monitoring of the beach’s changing profile over time informing a potential renewal of the process at the end of that period.  

And for the local seaside community – rather than having to relocate, losing a piece of themselves and their history – they have regained their beach, for years to come.