Jumeira open beach gets a face-lift

He noted that the project, costing Dhs 60 million, forms part of the municipality's efforts to maintain Dubai's reputation as a premier beach holiday destination among international tourists.

The Phase One works involved extension of the existing rock structures and sand replenishment in order to provide a wider and more stable beach offering safer and enhanced beach facilities. The reconstruction work had followed a data collection campaign throughout the Jumeirah coastal frontage and an extensive consideration of options supported by numerical and physical modelling.

"This development is aimed at offering global best standards for beach goers. Dubai is committed to its reputation as one of the safest tourist destinations in the world and we, at Dubai Municipality, would like to ensure that visitors to our wonderful beaches experience world-class recreational facilities while being assured of safety practices of highest international standards," noted Al Maidoor.

Eng. Alya AbdulRahim, Head of Coastal Management Section at Dubai Municipality, said as part of the first phase of the open beach development project, the rubble-mounted break-waters in the beach area were reconstructed and the beach was nourished with more than 600,000 cubic metres of beach sand thereby ensuring a stable coastline and a wide and safe beach for the visitors and the area's residents.

She said the first ever coastline development project was undertaken by the section in 1988 with the objective of stabilising the coastline against continues erosion and the first beach protection project was undertaken during the period from 1992 until 1994.

She noted that in 1997, a baseline study was carried out for the 32km of frontage from Dubai Dry Dock in the north east to Jebel Ali Port in the south west. This study included an environmental study with impact assessment. The study has further identified the areas which require immediate attention and subsequent modelling studies have been planned accordingly.

In 2002, a comprehensive coastal monitoring programme was implemented by the section to collect and broadcast marine data 24/7 via the internet and to support design works of the project.

In 2003, the Coastal Management Section based on the marine data collected and in cooperation with the project consultants began the designing of the Jumeira Open Beach Development project in order to cope with the projected population growth and preserve Dubai's image as a preferred tourist destination in the world by providing outstanding beach facilities and services to the visitors.

Eng. Alya noted that to understand the coastal processes and the benefit of various coastal protection strategies, complex numerical modelling was undertaken by both the Coastal Management Section and the project consultants. The main purpose of this computer-aided modelling was to obtain a detailed appreciation of the wave, current and sediment transport conditions of this area together with coastline evolution for several generic coastal defence strategies.

"We wanted to make use of the best available technology and know-how in this field to arrive at an optimum marine works improvement with least physical intervention on the natural environment yet fulfilling the functional requirements of a highly popular beach front" said Eng. Alya.

He also explained that in order to ensure that maximum cost-benefit was achieved, an extensive innovative Decision Matrix was used as the objective decision making tool for the selection of options to move through to the next iteration. This decision matrix approach refined in excess of 40 options for this stretch of coastline to select the preferred solution. The matrix considered weighted consideration of; Beach area created, Stability, Swimmer safety, Visual impact/Aesthetic appeal, Water quality, Beach amenities, Social and Environmental impact and cost.

She noted that the options varied from evaluating a minimal intervention solution, such as simply adding sand to the beach, to adopting innovative solutions such as an artificial surf reef. All options were compared to a 'do nothing' option where the existing configuration would be left as-is. The physical models involved building 1:25 scale models in a water filled basin of various options and artificially simulating the typical and extreme wave conditions encountered on this stretch of coast.

The modelling study was structured such that the strengths of the laboratory and computer models work together to complement one another and to support the Decision Matrix process.

Eng. Alya, meanwhile, added this project is the first in a series of improvements to the public beaches. The next section of coastline to be addressed is the stretch of coastline south of the open beach to create more beach area with improved accessibility.

"Subsequent phases of the project will focus on enhancing the development of these public amenities to provide for a balanced development for beach users including tourists and regular users, beach sport enthusiasts and families. A mix of Municipality developed facilities and private initiatives operating within Dubai Municipality guidance will be used to ensure that the best facilities are made available to the public, said Eng. Alya, noting that the forthcoming initiatives will be announced soon.

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