City to commence with Small Bay sea wall project
03 February 2023
The City’s Coastal Management Branch will, within a few days, commence
with the upgrade of coastal infrastructure and reconstruction of the sea wall
at Small Bay in Bloubergstrand. The public will not be able to access the beach
from the Small Bay Park, neither the parking area adjacent to the park for the
duration of the project. Pelegrini Street will be open to residents only.
'We are upgrading the coastal infrastructure at Small Bay to protect coastal properties and important services infrastructure from wave overtopping and flooding. Presently, the existing sewer line is vulnerable to coastal processes and at risk of collapsing. We will, therefore, re-route the sewer line landward, away from the sea wall.
'The existing sea wall will be reconstructed from the Small Bay Park along Pelegrini and Popham Streets, up to Ferguson Street. The City's coastal engineers have done a lot of work to ensure we build a wall of high quality that will mitigate the overtopping volumes and associated risk to damage and safety. All of this work is done as part of our forward planning to protect our coastline and adjacent assets from the impact of climate change, powerful storms, and other dynamic coastal processes,' said the City's Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
The project entails the following:
- If all goes as planned, the work will commence in the second week of February 2023 and should be complete by September 2024
- The existing sea wall will be reconstructed from the Small Bay Park, along Pelegrini and Popham Streets to Ferguson Street; all-in-all, a section of about 190m
- The sea wall will be a robust structure to withstand the forces of nature while retaining public access and pedestrian movement, and with a minimum impact on sea views
- The existing sewer line will be rerouted landward, away from the sea wall, from the park to the De Mist ablution building
- The reconstruction of Pelegrini and Popham Streets along the sea wall
The project will be done in phases and while ongoing, the public will not be able to access the beach from the Small Bay Park. Access to the parking area adjacent to the park will be restricted. Only residents will have access to Pelegrini Street. Signage will inform the public as such.
The City's project team engaged with impacted residents in 2020 and 2021, as well as last year, and a public briefing was hosted in February 2022.
'The contractor will use the Small Bay Park as a temporary site camp. We will try our best to limit the impact on residents and visitors as much as possible. Given the unpredictable environment, the construction will be subject to storm events and other natural processes beyond the City's control. I want to thank our residents, in particular those living in the vicinity of the construction site, for their support and understanding during this time. Once done, all of us will benefit from the improvements,' said Alderman Andrews.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
