RAISING THE ALARM: HOW THINGS GO WRONG

Way back in 1979 the author was privileged to provide a concept design to replace the 1930s vertical reinforced concrete retaining wall that had collapsed in the storms on 1974. This design was developed during a period of economic constraint. And ventured the use of the newly developed design rules for Seabees and Maccaferrri gabions when subject to wave action. The structure was intended to be built by direct labour of the local authority. While attending ICCE2022 in Sydney, the author visited the seawall at Cronulla which was now of a different form, showing signs of distress and wondered how things turned out that way. The abstract was accepted for aural presentation in Rome, and this paper represents a more generalized view of how things have gone wrong on various projects the author has been involved with since 1964. An attempt perhaps to get the reader to learn from the mistakes of others.