Construction of the new boardwalk and beachworks on Brighton seafront – as part of the Black Rock regeneration project – is now complete. LUC joined the celebrations at an official opening event with the Mayor of Brighton & Hove.

LUC is providing design services for the ambitious landscape scheme at Black Rock.

The scheme originated from an ecology mitigation project to free up the main abandoned and neglected Black Rock site for future development. This first phase sets in motion the creation of 1.5ha of vegetated shingle habitat along the 1km length of Brighton seafront.

The 800m long boardwalk provides a new, safe pedestrian route along the beachfront, taking people off the tarmac road of Madeira Drive. 220 tonnes of upcycled plastic went into its construction – the equivalent to 7.3 million plastic bottles.

A series of sculptural landform shingle ridges and troughs are planted in precise patterns. They feature 1,200 plants propagated through a partnership with Kew Gardens at Wakehurst, using seed from the Millennium Seed Bank and cuttings from the original wildlife site.

The boardwalk and habitat creation areas are highly unusual features because of their scale, materials, design, and sustainable construction. Both the concept and construction make this scheme nationally unique certainly within a city context.

The next phase in the transformation of Black Rock is the restoration of the derelict but listed Reading Room building into a café space with welcoming landscape space, linking to the beach.

Learn more about Landscape Design at LUC.