Sorrento Beach closures to occur as part of shark barrier installation

INSTALLATION of a beach enclosure at Sorrento will require some parts of the beach to close during construction.

Work will start this Monday on the shark barrier and take about three weeks to complete.

Some sections of the beach between Hillarys Boat Harbour and the nearest Sorrento groyne will be closed periodically to facilitate this.

Beach users are asked to keep clear of works on the beach and in the water and to obey all site signage.

MORE: Barrier relief approved for Sorrento Beach

Work has started is currently underway to reconfigure existing Sorrento Beach carparks to provide nearly 70 extra bays, which will also cause some disruption this month.

A new facility will also soon be constructed to enable improved beach access for visitors and to provide a full-sized change room, adult-sized change table, hoist and shower to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

In May, the Joondalup council accepted a tender from Eco Shark Barrier to install and maintain for the supply, installation and maintenance of the enclosure at Sorrento Beach.

“The City has worked collaboratively with the State Government to progress this very important infrastructure project to the installation stage and we are pleased to soon see construction commence,” Mayor Troy Pickard said.

“There will be some disruption during the installation of the enclosure and carpark works and we appreciate the understanding and patience of beach users, who I’m sure are going to be very excited with the result.”

The enclosure will extend from the Hillarys Boat Harbour seawall, 430m to the groyne just north of the Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club.

It will be made in Perth from a robust nylon matrix and anchored to the sea floor, held in place by floats.

Eco Sark Barrier has designed the structure to create a ‘wall’ effect that keeps out large marine animals, including sharks and dolphins, but allows smaller fish to pass through.

It will remain in place all year round.