Living Seawalls

What Living Seawalls does

Living Seawalls is a non-profit flagship program of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with a core team of approximately five employees. The organization focuses on ecological enhancement of marine built infrastructure, replacing or augmenting conventional hard seawalls with habitat modules designed to support marine colonization and biodiversity recovery. Its work targets urbanized coastlines where marine ecosystems have been degraded by traditional concrete or rock structures.

The company operates three core product lines — Habitat Enhancing Panels (with 10 distinct designs), Living Boulders, and Living Pilings — manufactured using 3D printing and engineered materials intended to encourage species settlement. Designs are validated through peer-reviewed scientific monitoring, supported by approximately 15 researchers across 9 university partnerships. Living Seawalls has delivered installations at more than 20 sites across 5 continents, including the flagship Barangaroo project with Lendlease in Sydney and a deployment of more than 1,000 panels at Jebel Ali in the UAE.

Living Seawalls generates revenue through three streams: direct sales of habitat modules, ecological consulting services, and charitable donations. Its customer and partner base spans global port operators (DP World under the "Living Ports" initiative), local government councils (North Sydney Council, Mosman Council), property developers (Lendlease), corporate sustainability partners (Volvo Cars Australia), and educational institutions (Sydney Secondary College Balmain). The organization has built credibility through a series of recognitions including Earthshot Prize Finalist (2021), Banksia Award, WEF Uplink, and the Eureka Prize (2025).

Name

Living Seawalls

Legal name

Living Seawalls (Sydney Institute of Marine Science flagship program)

Website

https://livingseawalls.com.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Living Seawalls is a Sydney-based non-profit flagship of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science that designs and installs modular habitat structures on marine infrastructure to enhance coastal biodiversity, serving port operators, councils, developers, and corporate partners across more than 20 global sites.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marine Habitat Enhancement / Eco-Engineering

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (541620)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Breakwaters, Seawalls & Coastal Defense Structures (IMAFAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Port Rehabilitation, Maintenance & Asset Renewal (Repairs, Strengthening) (IMAFAJAL), Revetments, Groynes & Beach Nourishment (IMAFAJAD), Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)

Keywords

• Marine habitat enhancement
• Eco-engineering panels
• Habitat enhancement modules
• Coastal biodiversity restoration
• Marine ecological consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Mosman, Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Habitat Module Sales: Living Seawalls sells bespoke habitat modules (Habitat Enhancing Panels, Living Boulders, Living Pilings) to customers including councils, port operators, and marine developers. Modules can be purchased and installed with ecological consultation on location and installation method provided by the team. Installation is performed by third-party contractors.
2. Ecological Consulting Services: The team offers tailored ecological consulting on shoreline design and re-development, from full nature-based solutions to hybrid or hard eco-engineering enhancements adapted to specific infrastructure and space limitations. Monitoring and evaluation services are also provided.
3. Donations: Living Seawalls accepts tax-deductible donations through the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). Donations help restore habitat to artificial structures in estuaries, harbours, and oceans.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Living Seawalls designs, manufactures, and installs habitat-enhancing modules — Habitat Enhancing Panels, Living Boulders, and Living Pilings — used to retrofit existing seawalls, pilings, breakwaters, and other marine infrastructure to support marine biodiversity. The company also provides ecological consulting, long-term biodiversity and water-quality monitoring, research collaboration, and education and vocational programs built around its eco-engineering designs.

Product overview

Living Seawalls is a modular ecosystem enhancement system combining three hardware product lines—Habitat Enhancing Panels (10 designs), Living Boulders, and Living Pilings—with supporting services including Ecological Consulting, Design & Manufacturing, Monitoring & Evaluation, Education Programs, and Vocational Placements. The products are designed to be retrofitted to existing coastal infrastructure (seawalls, pilings, revetments) or incorporated into new marine construction, and are backed by over 20 years of scientific research demonstrating biodiversity improvements of up to 36% compared to unmodified structures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Living Ports: Port infrastructure created in partnership with DP World that benefits both humans and nature. The largest Living Seawall is at Jebel Ali, UAE with 1,000+ panels installed.

Products and services

• Habitat Enhancing Panels

Quantifiable outcome

• 36% increase in species diversity on enhanced structures after 1-2 years
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and major.

• Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLiving Seawalls is a flagship program of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), a not-for-profit research institution. SIMS provides the institutional home for Living Seawalls research, staff (including Project Manager Aria Lee and Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Kyle Hilliam), and accepts tax-deductible donations. SIMS is a registered charity with the ACNC.
• Reef Design LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLiving Seawalls modules are designed in collaboration with Reef Design Lab. Industrial designers at Reef Design Lab create digital panel designs informed by measurements from natural rocky shorelines. Reef Design Lab also manufactures modules using 3D printing and mould casting. Director Alex Goad is part of the Living Seawalls team.
• DP WorldflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerDP World partnered with Living Seawalls to create 'Living Ports' - port infrastructure that benefits both humans and nature. The latest Living Port is at Jebel Ali, UAE, with 1,000+ panels installed, making it the largest Living Seawall. This is a flagship international partnership for scaling nature-positive port infrastructure.
• Macquarie UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founder Professor Melanie Bishop leads a team of researchers in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University. The university offers competitive scholarships for students studying with Living Seawalls. Collaborative research supervised over 30 PhD students.
• UNSW (University of New South Wales)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociate Professor Mariana Mayer Pinto (Scientia Fellow) is based at UNSW's School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. UNSW is a partner university offering competitive scholarships for students working with Living Seawalls.
• LendleasemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLendlease collaborated with Living Seawalls on the Barangaroo project as part of the World Harbour Project ARC grant. The Barangaroo Living Seawall installation (with kelp as of September 2024) is one of the flagship Sydney installations with active research.
• North Sydney CouncilmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNorth Sydney Council has partnered with Living Seawalls for the Living Seawalls Project, installing habitat enhancement panels at council-managed coastal sites along Sydney Harbour.
• Mosman CouncilmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMosman Council supported the Lavender Bay Living Boulders installation 2023-2024, providing in-kind contributions for the coastal enhancement project in the Mosman area.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Tetra Tech: US-based consulting and engineering firm with deep marine and coastal environmental practices, providing ecological monitoring, restoration design, and regulatory support. Comparable to the consulting and monitoring services Living Seawalls provides to ports and councils.
• CSA Ocean Sciences: US-based marine environmental consulting firm providing ecological monitoring, habitat assessments, and environmental compliance services to ports and coastal developers. Overlaps with Living Seawalls' ecological consulting and monitoring offering for a similar enterprise buyer.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with a substantial coastal and marine environmental practice, including port master planning, environmental impact assessment, and habitat restoration. Overlaps with Living Seawalls at the consulting and nature-based solutions layer.
• Worley: Australian-headquartered global engineering firm with a coastal and marine practice supporting port operators and developers on environmental and infrastructure projects. Provides a much broader portfolio but competes for the same nature-positive port infrastructure mandate.
• Arcadis: Global design and consultancy firm with a sizable coastal resilience and environmental consulting practice serving port authorities and developers. Comparable in scope of nature-positive infrastructure advisory, though much broader in portfolio.
• WSP: Global professional services firm with environmental and coastal engineering capabilities, including marine habitat restoration advisory and port environmental services. Comparable buyer base and nature-based solutions offerings to Living Seawalls' consulting line.

Direct peers

• Reef Design Lab: Australian industrial design studio that co-designs and manufactures Living Seawalls modules. Operates in the same niche of digitally designed, 3D-printed habitat structures for marine restoration, with shared team members (Alex Goad) and overlapping customer base.
• ECOncrete: Israel-based commercial provider of eco-engineered concrete solutions for seawalls, breakwaters, and marine infrastructure. Most direct commercial competitor to Living Seawalls' habitat-enhancing concrete modules, with a broader product portfolio and investor-backed scaling.
• Seaboost: French marine ecological engineering firm (Egis subsidiary) specializing in habitat restoration and eco-engineered marine infrastructure. Comparable product/market overlap with Living Seawalls in Europe, often working with ports and coastal developers.

Regional players

• Royal HaskoningDHV: Dutch engineering consultancy with a long-standing coastal and port practice, including nature-based shoreline solutions and eco-engineering advisory. Comparable in product/market space but primarily serves European clients, with limited overlap in Australia.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/livingseawalls
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/living-seawalls

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Living Seawalls