Seawall in Vancouver

About the seawall

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• Walking and cycling around Stanley Park on the seawall

  The 9 km portion around Stanley Park takes 2 to 3 hours to walk or 1 hour to cycle. Visit Stanley Park

• Annual slope stabilization and maintenance

  Every winter, the Vancouver Park Board closes the seawall between Prospect Point and Third Beach for about 3 weeks, and for a few days at Ferguson Point to do maintenance work (“rock scaling”) on the rock slopes and cliffs along these sections of the seawall.

  Work includes:

  • Power washing and hand scaling at Siwash Rock and Prospect Point and a couple of other areas where the sandstone is compromised
  • Vegetation removal
  • Debris removal in catchment areas, around catch basins and along the drainage channel
  • Inspections of netting and rock anchors to make sure they are secure

  Rock slope maintenance is essential to reducing risk of rock and debris slides onto the seawall pedestrian and cycling path, which is caused by heavy rain, windstorms, ice accumulation, and spring thaw. Rock slope maintenance has been taking place in Stanley Park every year for almost 2 decades. 

  Signs about the closure of the seawall between Prospect Point and Third Beach will be posted throughout Stanley Park with recommended detours.

• History of the seawall

  1917

  Construction of the seawall began in Stanley Park in 1917. Much of its incremental progress was overseen by Park Board master stone mason James Cunningham from the late 1920s until his retirement 35 years later.

  A plaque commemorating Cunningham's work is on the rock face above the seawall at Siwash Rock.

  1980

  On September 21, 1980, the entire seawall loop around Stanley Park was declared officially completed with the final paving between Third Beach and Second Beach.

  Since 1980, the seawall was extended outside of Stanley Park.

  2010 to 2011

  In 2010 and 2011, 2 portions of the Seawall, Stanley Park (near Second Beach) and English Bay (near Sunset Beach), were renewed to address ongoing concerns with erosion.

  With deep foundations and renewed surfacing, the new seawall is built to withstand the tides for many years to come.