Hard Defences

Some example of ‘hard’ coastal protection methods:

Rock revetments

These have a high cost of about £100-300,000 per 100m length, but require relatively low maintenance. T

he permeable face absorbs wave energy and encourages upper beach stability.

Permeable revetments can be built from gabions, timber or concrete armour units.

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Sea walls

These have a very high cost of about £200 - 500,000 per 100m length.

They provide good medium term protection, but continued erosion will cause long term failure (30-50 year life expectancy).

Seawalls are near vertical structures of concrete, masonry or sheet piles, designed to withstand severe wave attack.

Their use was popular in the past but they are now normally considered to be costly and detrimental to the stability of beaches.

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