Committee

Kevin Burgess

Over the past 40 years, Kevin Burgess has worked in consultancy on coastal engineering and shoreline management projects in technical and senior management roles at Halcrow, CH2M and now Jacobs. His technical experience covers strategic coastal planning and coastal process analysis, development and appraisal of sustainable engineering approaches and detailed design.

Burgess has contributed to several technical publications, provided guidance to the industry, from site-specific to national-level assessment, and has been a regular speaker at national and international conferences. He has served as chair of this conference since 2017, having been a member of the organising committee since 1998.

Nadia Genovese

Nadia Genovese is a Chartered Engineer in both the UK and Italy, with extensive international experience in coastal and maritime engineering. She began her career with COWI in early 2007, working within the coastal and maritime division across Denmark, the UAE, Qatar, the US and the UK.

Having joined the NIRAS UK coastal and maritime team in 2025, Genovese continues to apply her expertise in the design of rubble mound structures using rock and concrete elements. Her project experience includes revetments for ports and harbours, coastal protection schemes, beach developments and waterfront infrastructure. She is experienced in the preparation and delivery of 2D and 3D physical model testing, from specification through to supervision and analysis of results.

Genovese has a particular interest in the design of intake and outfall systems, including weirs, pipelines, diffusers and other hydraulic structures. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the development of standardised tools and methodologies.

William Allsop

William Allsop advises ARC Marine on coastal engineering, with a particular focus on improving biodiversity. Previously, he led his own consultancy and served as technical director for maritime structures at HR Wallingford, where he was responsible for optimisation and design of breakwaters, sea walls, revetments and other shoreline structures. 

His experience includes supervising laboratory testing in the UK and internationally, as well as advisory roles on major LNG terminals, the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate and hurricane-related coastal bridge damage in the US. He has also recently supported the development of a new hydraulics laboratory in Torquay.

Allsop has a long-term interest in historic breakwaters around the UK, cemented by his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where he is an honorary professor. His research has been included in major handbooks and standards, and published in ICE journals. 

Caroline Barford

Caroline Barford is a civil engineer with 20 years’ experience in the maritime sector within local government in the Portsmouth area. She began her career at Portsmouth International Port, including client supervision of the construction of the Spinnaker Tower, before moving into coastal engineering.

She has worked across the full construction cycle from identification of works and procurement to construction, maintenance and emergency works. Her roles have included coastal asset management and leading coastal flood response in partnership with emergency planners.

Barford was the client NEC supervisor for the initial three phases of the Southsea Coastal Scheme, including the Southsea Castle to Speaker’s Corner frontage, which won the inaugural Sir John Armitt Prize at the 2025 British Construction and Infrastructure Awards.

She has been with Coastal Partners since its inception as a local-authority shared service for coastal works in south-east Hampshire, where she supports the delivery of community-focused coastal protection projects.

Simon Burchett

Simon Burchett is a Chartered Engineer with more than 25 years’ experience in the coastal, waterfront, maritime, fluvial and flood-risk sectors, delivering projects worldwide for a wide range of clients under various contract types. His experience covers the full project lifecycle – from due diligence, site reconnaissance and planning, and modelling studies, to the design and construction of projects, including port/terminal, power, infrastructure, coast/flood protection and waterfront developments.

Burchett is a member of the British Standards Institute committee responsible for BS 6349: Maritime works. He is also a UK expert for the preparation of a new Eurocode covering coastal structures and a co-author of PIANC international marina design guidance.

Jesper Damgaard

Jesper Damgaard is an ICE Fellow and Chartered Engineer with senior port and marine engineering experience at HR Wallingford, Worley Parsons, COWI and SMEC. A specialist in hydrodynamics and sediment transport, he has been involved as a consultant in large marine infrastructure projects including Tanjung Priok port expansion, Jebel Ali Container Terminal 3, Ras Laffan Port and Schiehallion deepwater oil field.  

Over the past decade he has worked on a range of international financial institution-funded projects and is currently engaged as a maritime infrastructure expert for the Asian Development Bank, supporting the delivery of port projects in the Pacific region.

Early in his career, Damgaard undertook extensive scientific research, authoring or co-authoring 14 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 30 conference papers. He has also chaired and presented at numerous scientific and industry conferences.

Mark Glennerster

Mark Glennerster is an ICE Fellow with over 38 years’ experience in coastal and marine structures. He provides technical advice to consultants, clients and contractors on topics from conceptual design to contract-related problems.

Glennerster has worked on breakwaters exposed to cyclones and typhoons, including the design and physical modelling of structures in these challenging conditions. He brings a holistic approach to projects, with extensive knowledge of construction techniques and health and safety issues. He is experienced in the design and assessment of rock rubble mound, concrete armoured and caisson breakwaters in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

Jim Hutchison

Jim Hutchison is a Chartered Civil Engineer and ICE Fellow with over 35 years’ experience in flood and coastal risk management. He has worked in both the public and private sectors, including senior leadership positions with Defra and the Environment Agency (EA), and has been with Balfour Beatty UK for the past 12 years.

His experience includes coastal planning, asset management, research, flood warning, recovery and resilience, project pipeline and delivery. He has worked closely with communities at risk from unstable coastal cliffs and sea, river and surface-water flooding.  

Hutchison led the original Shoreline Management Plan development in 1994 and is a member of both the ICE’s Coasts, Marine Structures and Breakwaters committee and Coastal Management committee. He is on the advisory boards of Brunel University and the Association of Drainage Authorities, and has just completed 10 years as a coastal advisor on Defra/EA’s Trent Regional Flood and Coastal committee.

Alice Johnson

Alice Johnson is a civil engineer specialising in rivers and coasts, with 25 years’ experience across numerical modelling, coastal beach assessments, developing business cases, supporting local authorities and the design and supervision of schemes. Her interest in beach, coastal geomorphology and sediment systems progressed to engineering and a PhD in developing probabilistic beach modelling. Her experience includes research on soft cliffs, sandscaping at Bacton and a review of the Dawlish Warren Scheme in Devon.

In recent years, Johnson has worked on complex adaptation projects to manage flood risk for low-lying communities and provide habitat restoration. She has also worked on design projects including the Cardigan flood risk scheme, Exmouth coastal defence scheme and Mamhead Slipway at Exmouth.

Richard Nunn

Richard Nunn is a chartered civil engineer with over 45 years’ experience in the water and flood risk management sector. For two decades he has worked at the Environment Agency, where he initially served as operations manager for project delivery across a ange of fluvial and coastal schemes in its capital programme. More recently, he has chaired the agency’s large project review group, which provides technical assurance for all major flood risk management projects and supports Defra in submissions to the Cabinet Office.

Nunn has served on the organising committees of previous Breakwaters and Coastal Management conferences held by the ICE in the UK and France.

Chris Patterson

Chris Patterson has spent the past 30 years working in the design assessment and delivery of ports and maritime infrastructure projects with Babtie Group, Jacobs and now Amentum in their Glasgow and Edinburgh offices.

He has worked across a wide range of maritime projects, including the expansion of Freeport Container Port in the Bahamas, the extension of Castletownbere fishery harbour in Ireland, Rosyth International Container Terminal in Fife and numerous naval base developments and upgrades. He has also been involved in the inspection, assessment and repair of maritime facilities and coastal defence structures.  

He has been a member of the organising committee for this conference since 2007.

Siong Hong Ting

Siong Hong Ting has over 20 years’ international experience in coastal, maritime, reclamation and port infrastructure projects. He specialises in the design and construction supervision of breakwaters, revetments, beach nourishment, dredging and reclamation works. His experience spans the UK, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, covering projects from concept and detailed design through to site supervision and delivery. 

David Todd

Based in Perth, Western Australia, David Todd provides project and technical management services to clients including marine contractors, port authorities, project developers and project delivery consultants. He has experience in all phases of marine projects – from planning to construction, maintenance and repair of projects including breakwaters, wharves and port facilities, dredging, navigation aids and desalination plant intakes and outfalls.

Todd is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (Australia) and member of the WA division coastal, ocean and ports engineering panel. He has presented several papers relating to past projects at both Australian and international conferences.