Author(s): Jorge Gutierrez; Fernando Colom; Phil Leblanc
Linked Author(s): Fernando Colom
Keywords: Marine Biodiversity Nature Inclusive Infrastructures NID Coastal Maritime Offshore Waterfronts
Abstract: To build sustainable and nature-inclusive coastal, ports and offshore infrastructures practitioners require innovative construction technologies and novel design considerations that go beyond the mandatory industry standards. In recent years, there has been a growing interest and demand to apply at scale Nature Inclusive Design (NID) solutions into infrastructure projects to actively address the need to protect and restore marine biodiversity. During the past decade, the ecological engineering (eco-engineering) technology of ECOncrete® has been extensively used as structural NID solution to promote the design of coastal, port and offshore projects where infrastructures are intentionally designed and actively used to promote biodiversity and support the restoration of coastal and marine ecosystem health and services increasing the social, economic and ecological value of projects while meeting engineering requirements. The holistic approach of eco-engineering combines biology, engineering and operational aspects of design and materials. In practice, the deployment of multiple eco-engineering pilot projects successfully demonstrated that the promotion of diverse marine habitats as an integral part of the coastal, port and offshore infrastructures is feasible and constructable at scale to mitigate environmental impacts, address compensation requirements and create opportunities to support the promotion and restoration of marine biodiversity.
Year: 2025