Beaches play an important role either as the sole barriers to coastal flooding and erosion, or as part of manmade defences.
Beach management in the UK has evolved significantly in design and execution over the last 10 years, motivated by increased expenditure on capital schemes aided by guidance from CIRIA’s Beach Management Manual, first published in 1996.
In times of accelerated sea level rise and increasing demands on beaches to provide defence against flood and coastal erosion risk, protect habitats and provide amenity, coastal practitioners need robust and “hands on” guidance on how to manage beaches for these diverse purposes.
Halcrow was appointed to lead a consortium to update the 1996 manual. The focus of the new manual is to address beach management as a whole, recognising its multiple functions, and represents a major shift from previous approaches that focused on engineering interventions to beaches.
This second edition includes the latest information on state-of-art methods, guidance on beach monitoring and maintenance, evaluation of the state and performance of a beach, design, procurement, execution and the after-care of beach improvement schemes. It is divided into four parts and makes use of case studies to illustrate popular management techniques and draw from experience of existing management approaches, reflecting the wealth of experience gained since 1996.