Northern Beaches Protection Project

What it does: adds sand directly to the beach system to restore beach width and buffers.

This can be done through a range of coastal management methods:

• Rainbowing / bottom dumping from offshore dredging provides sand to nearby beaches.
• The Surfers Paradise Backpass System (SPBPS) pumps sand from The Spit to Surfers Paradise.
• Dune management supports healthy vegetation and provides a natural buffer against coastal erosion.

Nourishment could occur on a cycle, such as every 5 or 10 years, depending on need. This is a well established coastal management method used worldwide.

What are the benefits of this approach?

• Bringing in sand widens the beach and improves access and amenity.
• There's minimal disruption to the community during the placement process.
• It's a well understood approach that is relatively simple to implement.
• No permanent structures need to be built, meaning no long-term physical footprint (aside from the existing SPSBP infrastructure).

What are the disadvantages?

• How long the benefit lasts depends on future wave conditions.
• Nourished sand is lost over time, as it naturally moves north.
• Nourishment is likely to become more expensive and more challenging to source the sand.
• This approach requires ongoing nourishment to maintain beach width.
• The SPSBP may not provide enough sand on its own, nor may it always be reliable.

What it does: uses underwater structures to reduce wave energy and slow sand movement offshore.

This structure is meant to cause sand accumulation to the south of it. This extra sand causes waves, especially larger waves, to break when going over that sand.

The waves that do reach the beach are smaller and there is less beach sand erosion.

Instead of adding large volumes of sand, this approach focuses on reducing how quickly sand moves away.

By slowing sand movement, the beach can build a strong buffer and recover more effectively after storms.

This has been successful elsewhere on the Gold Coast, such as at Palm Beach.

The main option being considered here is submerged reefs, which interact with waves and sand movement.

What it does: partially interrupts northward sand movement to retain sand within the beach system.

A variety of built structures, like groynes or training walls, can do this by partially blocking sand movement.

For the northern beaches, the option being examined is headlands. These are designed to retain sand while still allowing movement through the system.

What are the benefits of this approach?

• Widens the beach and improves access over a longer stretch of coast.
• Can create new public open space, improved surf conditions and more resilient dune systems over time.
• Supports improved Oceanway connections and accessibility.

What are the disadvantages?

• Changes the look of the coastline.
• Sand movement north of the structure must be carefully managed.
• Requires careful design to balance the benefits along the wider coastline.

There isn’t a single switch to turn erosion off. The challenge is managing sand movement. This can be done by supplying sand, slowing sand, trapping sand – or a combination of all three.

This stretch of coast has always been vulnerable

The northern beaches sit in a naturally exposed part of the coastline.

Due to the shape of our coastline and predominant swell direction, the northern beaches are impacted by more wave energy than many other beaches.

This means erosion happens more often and more intensely, even without extreme storms.

Early development changed how the beach can respond

Some of the earliest beachfront development on the Gold Coast occurred here.

Buildings and infrastructure were constructed very close to the shoreline, particularly around Narrowneck and north of it.

This limits the natural ability of the beach to move, reshape, and recover after storms.

There is no space for large, healthy dunes to form

Natural dune systems need space and time to grow.

In this area, there is little room for wide, well-established dunes, which prevent erosion.

Without stable and healthy? With dunes, the coast becomes more vulnerable.

History shows nature alone hasn’t been enough

The City has had to step in multiple times because natural recovery was not sufficient:

• 1975: ~1 million cubic metres of sand placed
• 1999: ~1 million cubic metres of sand placed
• 2025: ~1 million cubic metres of sand placed

These were not one-off decisions — they followed years of erosion, increasing maintenance, and declining beach amenity.

The expectation following the 2025 nourishment is that beaches will continue to slowly erode over time.

Doing nothing would mean worse outcomes over time

Population growth and beach use will continue to increase.

More people, infrastructure, and activity mean higher consequences when erosion occurs.

Without active management, erosion would happen more frequently, reduce beach width and usability and increase costs and disruption in the long run.

Nature still plays a role — but it needs help here

Natural processes are still important, but they can’t work alone in a constrained urban environment.

Active beach management helps: Restore natural buffers, buy time for recovery and maintain safe, usable beaches for the community

In some places, nature can recover on its own. On the Northern Beaches, history shows that it isn’t enough.

Carefully managed intervention is needed to protect the beach, the community, and the coastline into the future.