During his distinguished career as professor of Coastal Engineering at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Kees d’Angremond served as head of Hydraulic and Offshore Engineering, chair of the department of Hydraulic and Geotechnical Engineering, and dean of the faculty of Civil Engineering from 1989 to 2001. Now professor emeritus, he still works as an advisor and independent consultant. We invited Kees to a conversation with Stefan Aarninkhof, professor of Coastal Engineering and chair of the department of Hydraulic Engineering at TU Delft, to talk about their careers in the dredging industry and the role of academia in the industry today.

The use of nature and natural processes is an innovative way to increase water safety and create added value through nature development and recreation. This exploratory study provides an initial inventory of the impact and costs of existing Building with Nature projects in the Netherlands. It also includes an analysis of the decision-making process in choosing this type of project and identifies success factors. Building with Nature projects deliver added value but often also involve additional costs compared to traditional reinforcements. These costs give an indication of what we as a society are prepared to pay for the development of nature and recreation as part of hydraulic engineering projects.

Climate change and increasing environmental damage are demonstrating the urgency of transformation to a sustainable global economic model. The implementation of the sustainable development concept tends to narrow to integrating environmental, social, and economic concerns in the decision making. In economics, the definition of such concerns is an externality that represents the divergence between social and private costs. This study investigates the available sustainable asset valuation methods that can include the externalities materialised in maritime infrastructure projects and compares them based on economic, social and environmental criteria.

In today’s world, expectations for sustainable practices are fast becoming the norm. Countries, the public and communities are requesting transparency, the application of higher environmental standards and involvement in decision-making processes when new developments in a marine environment are proposed. Marine infrastructure projects not only require environmental permits and works licences to be in place, they also need a Social Licence to Operate (SLO). This article describes the social licence in this fast-changing context of information and technology, and explores tools that can be used to develop a ‘responsible project’ and provide a successful and sustainable outcome for society and the environment.

A full consideration of ecosystem services (ES) impacts, interactions and improvements can result in more sustainable and adaptive solutions for dredging and marine construction projects. Furthermore, the benefits can be translated in monetary terms, providing returns on investment and highlighting the links between ecology and economy. For some however, the ES concept is too theoretical. This article seeks to show how the ES concept can actively be applied at any point during a project and the benefits of doing so. Its purpose is to provide a framework for integrated and interdisciplinary thinking throughout the different steps of the project cycle.

Taking a fresh look at traditional, unsustainable coastal defence methods. A pioneering project discovers some inspiring concepts, including using biogenic reefs for ecosystem-based flood defence.

‘It’s clear that the solutions that we employed in our approach to engineering in the 20th century are not aging well.’ As National Lead for the Engineering With Nature initiative, Dr Todd Bridges discusses how we must have a diversified solution set in which nature is a part of the solution.

Over the past decades, there has been a growing interest in exploring innovative ways to minimise the environmental footprint of coastal developments and in nature-based approaches for shoreline protection. At Mubarraz Island near Abu Dhabi (UAE), an international oil company beneficially reused ~12 million m³ of dredged material to protect pipelines, construct a causeway and create mangrove habitat to manage coastal erosion. This ‘Working with Nature’ approach has provided a cost-effective nature-based solution for shoreline protection, with added benefits for biodiversity conservation.

‘Water is more than a toilet, tap, dam, dyke or levee, it's an enabler.’

Can nature-based solutions be mainstream solutions? Nature-based solutions have obvious advantages but have not been embraced at wider scale. The barriers which can hinder wide-scale application and the topic’s relevance to the dredging community are discussed.

The Bacton Sandscaping scheme is a large-scale beach nourishment designed to protect the Bacton Gas Terminal from cliff and beach erosion while also reducing flood and erosion risk to the communities of Bacton and Walcott, buying the time they need for adaptation to coastal change.

This study examines which and, if possible, how much more ecosystem services are provided by the most recent nature inspired coastal protection project Prins Hendrik Zanddijk, in comparison with a traditional concrete and asphalt construction.

After 30 years at Witteveen+Bos, Henk Nieboer has moved on from the engineering and consultancy firm to focus his expertise into his current roles as director of EcoShape and founder of Adaelta.

CEDA’s Working Group on Beneficial Use aims to inspire sediment stakeholders and practitioners by describing the importance of sediments in the context of sustainable development and sharing a curated selection of case studies.

Following the Building with Nature concept, a pilot study was conducted introducing finegrained dredged sediments as a semicontinuous source of mud into a shallow tidal channel, naturally dispersing sediment to nearby mudflats and salt marshes.

In collaboration with the Natuurmonumenten (the Dutch Society for the Preservation of Nature), Boskalis constructed the Marker Wadden. The archipelago situated within the Markermeer enables processes which revitalise the natural ecology.

To connect Scandinavia with Germany, the world’s longest immersed tunnel will be built. The Fehmarnbelt will close a major gap in the European transport network while fostering the development of new nature and recreational landscapes.

Mark van Koningsveld’s quest for a sustainable dredging industry takes to the front of the classroom as he begins his new role as professor of Ports & Waterways at TU Delft.

ReefGuard, a mobile coral breeding facility provides a highly controlled environment to aid in integrating the breeding and outplanting of corals. This article gives a detailed look into how proven small-scale coral breeding techniques can be scaled-up and applied in practice to promote environmental gain around marine infrastructure projects.

Building with Nature is an innovative approach that combines natural processes with innovative engineering methods to realise sustainable projects. Permeable dams are being utilised as part of a Building with Nature solution to help restore the eroding mangrove-mud coast of the Demak district in central Java, Indonesia.

When you think out of the box, science and engineering can lead to practical solutions for both the protection of nature and sustainable economic developments.

Worldwide the total area of tidal flats is decreasing as a result of sea level rise, subsidence by gas extraction and erosion initiated by artificial constructions. This IADC Award winning paper examines whether nourishment programmes might be part of the solution.

Decision-making for infrastructure depends on a mix of local culture, the political situation and uncertainties related to the project’s complexity. To explain the process of gaining the confidence of stakeholders, two cases of “Building with Nature” in the Netherlands are presented.

Although this approach was first applied in the Netherlands, it has gradually been recognised worldwide as a harmonious means of creating land areas for living, working, tourism & recreation, and infrastructure, whilst ensuring the preservation or expansion of valuable environmental resources, nature and landscape. In addition, climate change resulting in sea-level rise, more frequent and intense storm-surges are taken into account, as well as land subsidence and salt water intrusion.

“Facts About Adaptive Management” describes how monitoring at intervals during a project supports decision-making process to modify operations as needed.

A joint study to explore financing of green coastal, river and port projects. Solutions are available, have been tested and are economically viable.

The book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure gives state-of-the-art guidance on how to design, implement and manage a water infrastructure project with a dredging component to project owners, regulators, consultants, designers and contractors.

There are opportunities to develop and implement new solutions for maritime infrastructure challenges. In addition to technical-economical values there is a big commitment to create both environmental and social values. To take the industry to the next level it is necessary to attract students and young professionals to the industry to ensure all externalities are taken into consideration from the onset of a project. The “Social Benefits Wheel” is a tool that can help track the degree to which a project or programme is attaining its social development targets and goals.