Living Seawalls – Revitalising Marine Infrastructure
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Living Seawalls bring biodiversity back, turning marine infrastructure into thriving habitats for marine life
Challenge
The world is experiencing a construction boom in our seas. Globally, the area of the seafloor impacted by built infrastructure is greater than the area of the world’ s mangrove and seagrass forests. Structures such as seawalls, pilings, pontoons and marinas are built for diverse purposes, including shoreline protection, recreational activities and energy generation, but lack the complexity required for a biodiverse marine environment.
Solution
Living Seawalls habitat modules mimic the habitat features of natural shorelines( e. g., rock pools, crevices). Modules can be fitted in scalable mosaics onto built structures. The complex surfaces of modules increase the habitat area available for growth of seaweeds, shellfish and other marine life. They also protect marine life from high temperatures and predators. Modules can be fitted to built structures of varying size and fabricated from upcycled materials.
Target customers / end-users
• local and federal governments
• international developers, such as Lendlease and DP World
• waterfront property owners.
Progress
• winner of 2025 Eureka Prize, Finalist in the Earthshot Prize
• installations in 10 countries spread over four continents
• featured in IUCN Standards; hosted Global Nature Positive Summit and Harvard Club site visits; strong social media presence.
Research Project
Scaling impact
TRL 5
Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Design
Living Seawalls blends ecological concepts and engineering in creative design to develop affordable, adaptable and scalable methods of ecologically enhancing structures – ultimately increasing marine biodiversity on urbanised coastlines.
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