For detailed information on each pilot site, take a look at the NbS Guidance Booklet  

• Blankenberge, Belgium (City of Blankenberge): Dunes will be expanded in an inland direction, notably through the breaking out of part of the road. This part extends over a total width of 11 metres and contains a sidewalk, a bike lane, a parking lane, the actual road and another parking lane. Following up this operation, a new bike lane of 4 metres width will be built. The rest of the area will be “given back to nature”, so that the already existing dunes will be able to expand over. 

• Newlyn, United Kingdom (Environment Agency): The pilot project involves deploying low-carbon eco-blocks on and around an existing breakwater. The eco-blocks will be designed with surface texturing inspired by natural nearshore rocky habitat and features shaped to encourage colonisation by algae and other marine life, to improve local marine biodiversity. By deploying and monitoring a variety of eco-blocks, it is intended to establish which properties such as substrate material, habitat features and block position give the best chance of marine organism colonisation in this type of environment, whilst also being suitable for the construction of reefs and breakwaters. It is intended that the results will inform the design of future coastal defences which will become living structures, harnessing the adaptive capacity of natural coastal processes.
• Gravelines, France (Commune of Gravelines): The pilot seeks to strengthen the existing dune, high enough to constitute a natural wall against the combination of waves and high tide. Observing sand accretion along the coast, the municipality developed wooden fences to trap the sand. While sand accumulates around these fences, small vegetation tends to grow in the sand and in turn reinforces the thickness and stability of the dune.
• Middelkerke, Belgium (Municipality of Middelkerke): The objective of the pilot is to replace the existing measures (beach nourishment) by permanent investments. In the tourist zones, a strong structure (wave damping expansion) along with a nature-based solution are planned. It consists of a soft sea wall in the form of a grass embankment (controlled dune). The slope of the beach is thereby extended and the zone closest to the sea dike level is given a vegetation of marram grass and other retained species. It can also grow with future higher protection needs (sea level rise) and can provide much added value in terms of experience for tourists, nature and biodiversity.
• Ostend, Belgium (City of Ostend): In the pilot, the excessive sand transport caused by heavy winds impedes the use of adjacent infrastructure (walk and cycle paths, tramway, coastal road) several times a year. The pilot seeks to create a natural landscape with planted dunes along the seawall. This should lead to an ecosystem that keeps the sand on the beach instead of leading it to the tramway and the road. The natural dynamics of waves and wind will allow for the dune landscape enough space to develop.
• Southend-on-Sea: The city chose not to roll out one big nature-based solution but to experiment in many different places. In total, no fewer than four pilots were realised to address the variety of shores’ natures. These solutions include stopping mechanical cleaning of the beach to allow vegetation to grow and retain the sand, restoring and replanting the dune as well as installing “pilling habitats” and vertipools. 
• Vlissingen, The Netherlands (Municipality of Vlissingen): The project provides the design and implementation for a new way of thinking about climate-adaptive public spaces in urban areas by the sea. The objective is to focus on natural and green sustainable measures, which in the long term will protect the urban area against flooding during storms. Hence, a street was adapted so it could become a river when the seawall is overtopped and additional vegetation was planted to filter and store water. In addition, research is being conducted into the implementation of NbS in the foreshore and in the primary sea defences. 

The project builds the capacity of urban leaders, decision-makers and officers involved in coastal flood defences to deploy NbS and understand the additional benefits that they offer in comparison to traditional grey infrastructure. Essentially the project enables the Urban Partners to embed new techniques, methodologies and practices into coastal management and planning policies and demonstrate the value of NbS and share this knowledge with other coastal urban landscapes across the 2 Seas.

Important prerequisites for scaling up pilot projects are the exchange, dissemination and disclosure of knowledge, not only among academics and policymakers, but also among a wider public, whose interest in NbS needs to be roused to drop their resistance and embrace the new solutions. To that end, the SARCC website displays many tools and resources (visualisation toolkit, NbS guidance booklet, webinars) and the project regularly organises regional seminars. 

• Visualisation toolkit: it gathers examples of best practices using NbS, historic trend analysis and future climate scenarios and adaptive development techniques that are displayed in different visual formats (videos, landscape artwork, animations) and through a web-based geospatial viewer that links to research and outcomes of the SARCC pilots.
• NbS Guidance Booklet: intended for urban authorities, it provides a summary of the activities undertaken in the capacity building programme and includes content on scientific evidence, historic trends, technical solutions and business models.
• An Implementation Framework and Monitoring Tool (coming 2023) will be produced for the selection of the most suitable NbS to deploy along coastal urban landscapes.
• Regional seminars: 4 regional seminars took place in 2022; in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK. The seminars detailed the benefits of deploying NbS as part of coastal flood defence systems.