Dawlish made the headlines in 2014 when the mainline railway that runs across the town’s seafront on its way to Cornwall was destroyed by storms. But an £80 million pound wall has risen up in its defence, and it’s been a gamechanger for the seaside resort.
Asking people about concrete and walls does not usually make for a great conversation opener. But here in Dawlish, faces light up at the mere mention of the subject.
'It’s fantastic, really great,' says Paul Street, busy moving shelving stands full of souvenirs in Coast to Coast gift shop in Piermont Place. 'Overall, I’d say, it’s magnificent.'
'It’s been a long time coming,' says Chris Canning, behind the café counter at Safari Adventure Golf. 'But now that it’s open, it’s made such a difference.'
We’re discussing the recently completed Dawlish sea wall, an £80 million government funded project, complete with an accessible, high-level promenade from Boat Cove to Coastguards footbridge.
It’s been a game changer for a seaside resort that has often been more ‘in touch’ with its coastal waters than it would like to be.
For decades, the sight of huge waves smashing over the town’s defences has attracted storm chasers from all over the world, keen to capture the awesome power of the sea on camera. It makes for a great pictures, but Dawlish has taken a pounding over the years.
And as if that’s not bad enough, the town is also on the South West’s arterial railway line. The track runs a stone’s throw from the sea and in 2014, a particularly heavy storm resulted in the closure of this section of the railway, cutting off the region by rail for eight weeks.
After a complex and expensive repair to reinstate the line, a long-term plan was put in place to improve resilience of the railway between Exeter and Newton Abbot and protect Dawlish in the process.
'It needed to happen, no doubt about it,' says Neil Salter, who has lived here since 2009. He has first-hand experience of walking near the previous sea wall while it shook with the vibrations of the waves smashing into it. He’s also seen commuters stood on the station platform get a soaking from a lively high sea.
Inspired by the theatre of it, Neil founded Dawlish Beach Cams in 2014, a series of professional cameras with sound, placed along the front to capture the power of nature.
'The storms made Dawlish world famous,' says Neil, adding that his live cameras and the footage have attracted a following all over the world. 'It made for great videos but the reality of it was people didn’t want to get drenched by the waves on their way to work.'
Construction work to replace the sea wall began in the summer of 2019 as part of Network Rail’s South West Rail Resilience Programme.
'There was a lot of negativity around at first,' says Neil, explaining that some locals were worried about the new design detracting from the heritage of the wall, originally constructed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1840.
'But over time, you could just see people’s attitudes changing,' adds Neil.
This was helped, in part, by Neil and his camerawork. He was invited to film the key stages of the construction work during the second phase of the £80 million project, which began in November 2020
One of the highlights was a tour of the ‘Wavewalker’, a revolutionary, eight-legged walking barge used during the project. The machine allowed construction teams from contractor BAM Nuttall to access the sea face of the railway embankment along Marine Parade, whatever the tide was doing.
'People loved that video,' says Neil. He goes on to explain that it allowed them to see and understand exactly what was happening and why. 'So then we started doing regular updates,' Neil adds. 'That’s been going on for three years now and we’ve attracted more than five million views. People have enjoyed being able to watch the process and see what’s been going on at every stage. And for me, it’s been great to see it all happen and be a fly on the wall.'
The new wall and 415 metres of new promenade finally opened to the public on May 25 to the delight of the crowds of locals and visitors who had been watching and waiting to see the results of this ground-breaking transformation.
According to the experts, the design ‘enables 90 per cent fewer waves to overtop the sea defences in stormy conditions’. The new structure – which won an Institution of Civil Engineers award in 2021 - will ensure the railway remains operational for the next 100 years. It’s also improved access to the beach.
Dawlish resident Anne Blackham says it’s been worth the years of disruption.
'When we first saw the plans, we were sceptical of how it would look,' she says. 'It’s taken a considerable amount of time, but we recently walked right along, and I have to say that the finished wall is impressive.'
Anne, who works in local tourism, hopes it will add to the visitor experience in all the right ways.
'The collapse of the sea wall and railway line in 2014 certainly put Dawlish on the map and continues to attract a lot of interest,' she says. 'Now it’s reopened, it will bring visitors to Dawlish wanting to have a look. And of course, it’s safeguarding our little town from the natural elements.'
A lot of the feedback here is actually about how great the wall looks. And it really does, honest. Even if you can’t get excited about concrete, the modern brutalist vibe and clean, smooth lines have smartened up the seafront no end, both from the beachside and from a train window point of view. Because as anyone who’s made the rail journey down to this part of the world knows, the Dawlish to Teignmouth bit is just the best – all seaside fun and sparkly water. Now all of that is perfectly framed by a piece of state-of-the art engineering. It’s certainly in the spirit of Brunel.
'I always embrace change,' says Neil Salter, echoing the sentiment. 'If you don’t have change, well, you can’t make progress, can you?'
dawlishbeach.com; networkrail.co.uk
