Grand Sable Beach Nourishment & Stabilisation — EIA
Grand Sable's artificial beach design needed an Environmental Impact Assessment that could stand alongside the restoration engineering itself — not a bolt-on formality, but a submission grounded in the same hydrodynamic modelling driving the design.
Led by OceanVolts' Managing Director, Nissar Sumodhee, with JICA and the Ministry of Environment, Mauritius, prior to founding the firm.
The challenge
As wave and coastal hydrodynamics modeller on the nourishment design, the EIA needed to be built on the same technical foundation as the engineering — sediment behaviour, wave climate and the long-term evolution of the nourished beach profile — rather than a generic environmental checklist.
Our approach
Delivered as part of a JICA-led programme with the Ministry of Environment, Mauritius, the EIA drew directly on the wave and coastal hydrodynamics modelling produced for the artificial beach design, and on ongoing ocean data well maintenance and retrieval. Modelling the long-term evolution of the nourished beach profile validated the design's durability for the assessment.
Outcome
The EIA reached a successful approval outcome in 2015, one of nine successful applications in the regulatory track record — see the fullEIA & PER Permitting service.
Project FAQs
What role did modelling play in this EIA?
The EIA drew directly on the wave and coastal hydrodynamics modelling produced for the beach design itself, rather than treating environmental assessment and engineering design as separate exercises.
Was this project part of a larger JICA programme?
Yes — Grand Sable was one of several coastal protection and restoration works delivered under a JICA-led programme with the Ministry of Environment, Mauritius, between 2013 and 2015.
Planning a coastal development?
We'll scope the modelling and permitting your project needs before design begins.
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