Burchills Engineering Solutions have been engaged to complete the ecological assessments for the Southport Yacht Club, Super Yacht Berth and Parklands.
Southport Yacht Club is developing a superyacht facility adjacent to Jack Gordon Park, Southport. The $7m project includes a major berthing facility for vessels up to 60m in length along with upgrades to the foreshore and existing parklands.
The project is part of the State Governments $60 million investment in The Spit master plan, which supports job-creating projects that will boost tourism opportunities and improve public amenity for the whole community. The new berth will allow the SYC to cater for more, and larger boats, which opens up the Gold Coast to some of the world’s largest and most luxurious yachts. Burchills are completing the engineering planning and design for the project which includes significant revetment walls, mooring facilities and improvements to the foreshore area. To support this, baseline ecological surveys were undertaken to determine the extent of subtidal and intertidal marine plants within and proximate to the works area. Impacts on these marine plants were quantified and discussions with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries secured the approval for disturbance to marine plants, with alternative approaches to offsets for Significant Residual Impacts accepted by the Department. Management measures were also outlined for construction and operation of the facility to reduce impacts on retained marine plants.