£1.2bn Beach Management Framework: delivery and design notes for coastal engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
A £1.2bn Beach Management Framework has been let by the Environment Agency to Van Oord UK and the VBA Joint Venture to deliver beach nourishment and coastal maintenance along multiple stretches of England’s coastline. The long-term framework will cover works such as shingle recycling, sand replenishment and repair of hard defences, supporting schemes that typically involve millions of cubic metres of sediment movement and regular re-profiling of flood defence beaches. Contractors will need to plan around tight tidal working windows, nearshore dredging constraints and integration with existing sea walls and groynes.
Technical Brief
- Dutch marine contractor Van Oord UK and Hertfordshire-based VBA Joint Venture have been appointed by the Environment Agency as suppliers for a new framework to deliver beach management and coastal maintenance works across England.
Our Take
The sustainability tag on this England-focused framework aligns with other flood and coastal risk pieces in our coverage where whole‑life asset management and nature‑based solutions are increasingly being written into contracts, which is likely to influence design choices for beach nourishment and dune systems under this programme.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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