The replacement of this iconic seawall at Shark Beach, part of Sydney Harbour National Park, protects and enhances Nielsen Park’s beloved waterfront public space.

Nielsen Park is State Heritage listed for its outstanding natural and cultural landscape, which demonstrates a rich and diverse range of uses. The seawall has a vital role to play in protecting heritage sites within Nielsen Park.

We carefully considered the materiality and character of Shark Beach and the greater Nielsen Park, in conjunction with design requirements for longevity and resilience. The seawall is approximately 0.5 m higher at the promenade level, and extends deeper below sand level, with structural piles firmly anchoring into bedrock to reduce the risk of movement and underscoring.

The original straight sea wall alignment has been replaced with a curvilinear form, reflecting the crescent of the beach. The design incorporates a modified bleacher profile with wave deflectors built in to manage storm events, and raking bleachers with user comfort in mind, which was determined through extensive physical prototyping and testing.

New ramps improve accessibility to the beach, and additional access compliant stairs have been installed along the length of the seawall. Landscape amenity has been improved with increased seating, lawn areas, and shade trees. A selection of hardy, native, densely planted, ground covers, grasses and shrubs complement robust and salt tolerant trees.

The landscape led infrastructural project carefully balances heritage values with future climate adaptation and resilience. The new seawall is capable of withstanding increasingly adverse weather conditions and sea level rise, while improving beach access and providing additional seating and shade. This once-in-a-lifetime project conserves the site's sensitive natural, cultural and historic heritage significance while improving amenity to meet current and future visitor and operational needs over the next 100-years.