City making good progress with refurbishment of Strand sea wall
3 May 2016
The rehabilitation of the sea wall to protect Beach Road along the Strand beachfront from windblown sand and frequent flooding during high tides and storms commenced in January 2016.
The refurbishment of the Strand sea wall forms part of the City’s Strand Pavilion Precinct Upgrade Project, with Transport for Cape Town (TCT), the City’s transport authority, spending approximately R103 million on the first phase.
Strand sea wall upgrade
‘The first section of the refurbished sea wall will consists of about 600 L-shaped precast concrete wall units. Each unit is placed onto a foundation designed to support the weight of the precast concrete units, amounting to between 14 and 16 tons each. Furthermore, on the seaward side of the wall, we are placing gabion mattresses on the foundation to protect the wall units against erosion that may result from tidal action. Once ready, the gabion mattresses and concrete wall units will be covered with sand. In the end, only about 800 mm or 0,8 metres of the concrete wall will be visible above the promenade level,’ said Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee Mamber: Transport for Cape Town.
It is estimated that the first phase of the project will be completed within 18 months, or around June 2017 if all goes according to plan.
‘We all are well acquainted with the impact of the weather on Beach Road. Waves, sand and debris often obstruct sections of the road after storms, partly because of the disintegration of the sea wall over the past decades. The new sea wall is designed to withstand storms, to deflect water and sand, and to endure the impact of climate change for the next 80 to 100 years,’ said Councillor Herron.
Phased construction
The sea wall will be rehabilitated from the lifesaving club, past the Strand Pavilion to Greenways. The construction is taking place in three phases:
- The first phase is currently under way from the Strand Pavilion to Da Gama Street
- The second phase will be undertaken from Da Gama Street to the lifesaving club
- The final phase will be undertaken from the Strand Pavilion to Greenways
A 5 metre-wide promenade will be created along the sea side of Beach Road, stretching from the lifesaving club in the west to Greenways in the east. If and where needed, broad steps will be constructed from the road level to the promenade level, with the number of steps depending on the difference in height between these two levels.
The estimated cost inclusive of all three phases is R180 million.
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