Maria Le Roux has been appointed as the City of Cape Town’s first female coastal engineer and today is her first day on the job. This exciting new position is crucial as the City continues to develop innovative coastal interventions and strategies while staying abreast of coastal risks such as flooding and beach erosion.

The City of Cape Town has appointed its first female coastal engineer, Maria Le Roux. Maria has started her career with the City today, 1 April 2019, and is tasked with developing long-term coastal engineering skills and capacity for the administration. With this appointment the City is paving the way for designated coastal engineers responsible for the oversight and management of its coastline and coastal infrastructure. These unique skills are becoming increasingly important especially in light of the environmental challenges we face due to climate change and marks the start of a new chapter of coastal excellence in the City.

‘We recognise the importance of being able to effectively monitor, map and understand coastal change. I’m extremely excited about the vast experience and knowledge Maria will be adding to the City’s Coastal Management team. Maria brings with her a wealth of knowledge in terms of the design and project planning of coastal infrastructure. Coastal engineering is a highly technical and specialised field and it’s an opportune time for us to start building a specialised coastal engineering section,’ said the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Marian Nieuwoudt.

Maria’s colleague and fellow coastal engineer, Brenton Heron, started his career at the City on 1 March 2019 and is officially the City’s first coastal engineer. Together, this team will have to implement a coastal engineering system that provides technical knowledge and innovative design to protect and manage Cape Town’s 307 km long coastline, one of Cape Town’s greatest economic assets and tourist attractions. Along with this expansive coastline comes the management of the various sea walls, coastal processes and boat ramps which are exposed to very powerful sea conditions. These will have to be monitored closely by the City’s experts.

‘Maria has a holistic understanding of both the technical and commercial issues affecting South Africa. She will be looking after our amazing coastline and leveraging further economic and social opportunities while protecting Cape Town from coastal risk, especially since we have such strong and powerful seas,’ said Alderman Nieuwoudt.

Maria was the first female student to obtain a Master’s Degree of Science in Port and Coastal Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch and has been involved with port and coastal engineering projects for more than 14 years. Over the past eight years she led design teams on a number of national and international projects.

The City is thrilled to have acquired this level of experience and skillset which will be to the benefit of communities and of the administration.

Source: City Of Cape Town