rsal Orlando, is home to 37,000 people. Since the 1950s, the population has practically doubled. More people means more housing, and more housing needs more space. And so using state-of-the-art techniques, Monaco expanded its land mass out into the sea by 6 hectares, increasing its area by 3%.
Now, we’ve been reclaiming land from the sea for hundreds of years. It’s how Monaco’s managed to grow by more than 20% since 1880. Maritera or Portier Cove is the latest addition to the country’s footprint. But just because they’ve done it before doesn’t mean it’s straightforward. There are various challenges with expanding your land mass, including habitat destruction, impacting underwater ecosystems, pollution from sediment runoff, and long-term stability.
But Monaco’s approach was in good hands. Supported by a cast of engineers and marine biologists, a dream team of Renzio Piano, Denny Ve, Jean Pistra, and Michel Divinier created the new district’s design. They absolutely couldn’t have built Mariterra without a great team. And I’ve always found that if you want to succeed at anything, you’ve got to have the right people around you.
That’s definitely been the case for me at the B1M. But as the channel gets bigger and we try and make bigger and better videos all the time, the amount of paperwork I get buried under is pretty overwhelming. But help is at hand because recently I’ve been getting some support from my new best friend, Odo, an all-in-one business management platform.
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So, please do click the link to learn more about UDO. We’d really appreciate it. Monaco sits in an area that’s rich in sea life. The Mediterranean is home to nearly 6,000 different species, and this extension lies directly between two marine reserves. The seaggrass there is known as Pedonia Oceanica. The meadows are declining around the world, but they play a vital ecological role.
Not only are they important for sea life, but they protect coasts from erosion and storms and sequester carbon. So preserving the underwater environment here was crucial. Marine biologists and divers relocated large sections of the seaggrass. around 500 square meters was transplanted using the sod method which is a technique where you mechanically move large areas and rehome it with strong anchorage.
Not only was it successful but this method has the potential to completely change the way we look at land reclamation and the protection of our seas. Maritera was designed with a curved footprint to respect the natural flow of the sea or currenttology. And that footprint was created using a belt of quesons. Now, a queson is a large watertight box that’s used for the construction of peers, bridges, and seaw walls.
In this case, the belt acted as a wall to stop the film material from simply floating away. Contractors spent 3 years dredging silt from the seabed to expose the bedrock to construct the quesons on, and they used these specially designed submerged anti-turbidity screens that were put in around the site to try and minimize the impact of the dredging.
In total, 18 quesons weighing 10,000 tons were constructed first in Marseilles and then dragged out to sea by huge ships, sometimes trailing the ship by up to 800 meters. It took 3 to 5 days to move and place each one depending on what the weather was doing. Once in Monaco, the quesons were then placed to build the belt.
To create the land mass that the buildings of Mariter would sit on, the space was filled with over 1.5 million tons of rock and marine sand. Using quesons meant nothing had to be implemented below sea level, therefore minimizing the impact on the seabed. Incredibly, they also double up as homes for the wildlife. It’s hoped that the grooves on their surfaces are going to encourage algae growth and foster biodiversity.
When we come back above water, we can see Maritera has been fully furnished with greenery and luxury. It’s going to be the the greenest part of Monaco, which is uh which is uh is very interesting to to think. And we the project include a seafront prominade, a park, a marina, uh some retail, some restaurant and and some cultural space contributing to the economic and social uh vibrancy of of of the principality.
So alto together it brings really a new area, a new dimension of Monaco. The final product is stunning and pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a new development in Monaco. Now, the big question is what happens when the sea levels rise? Well, that’s been thought about, too, because every structure here has the ability to be raised.
Continuing Mariter’s theme of modern design, the harbor has moving peers that can be adjusted depending on the level of the sea to prevent coastal flooding. Now, all of this sounds pretty great. The greenest urban area in Monaco, innovative engineering, and properties sold before the inauguration in December last year. But the fact those homes sold so quickly raises a question.
Is this 3% expansion big enough for the future? Well, here’s the thing. Maritera is about as big as it possibly could be. Land reclamation can only be achieved down to certain depths, and this new piece of land is already reaching down 50 m below the waves. It means that it’ll probably be Monaco’s final land reclamation project.
After 50 m, the plum of Mediterranean goes down really steep. So from 50 you go to 80 to go to 100 to go to 200 then of course you can you know uh then after it’s a term of of of ecological and and money but it’s it’s make no much much more sense. So it’s becoming really hard. It’s no secret that the global population is going to go up in the next 75 years.
It’s expected to hit 10 billion. But without land reclamation or an illadvised evasion of France what can Monaco do? we are thinking of other way because there is other way if you think um you know to to to do things. So you know which which is this is great with technology and and and construction today is you know the I would say the sky is the limit but uh you know you you can really uh come with some very innovative way uh to do to to do things and and and to to build on the water.
It’s certainly intriguing. One solution is to look at what another tiny nation has done. 5,000 mi away in the Indian Ocean is the smallest country in Asia. The Maldes is a truly stunning dream paradise. And I should know, having spent my honeymoon there 14 happy years ago, but it faces a critical issue. About 80% of its land mass is less than 1 m above the sea level.
Since my last visit, the nation has been working on the design of the future to solve the problem. a floating city due to be completed in 2027. The city comprises connected hexagonal islands. The concrete hulls are then screwed to the seabed with huge steel stilts that allow it to move with the motion of the ocean. Challenges still remain with floating cities.
Of course, water depth makes things tricky and the generation of power away from the mainland has to be considered, but it’s a more viable solution for the future. So, what about building upwards? While Monaco already has skyscrapers, the tallest being the 170 m Odian Tower, but if we’re being realistic, the chances of seeing a wave of similar towers being approved are pretty slim.
The nation sits on the side of a mountain next to the sea, and its geology is very challenging. And as you’re no doubt clearly aware by now, space for new development here is limited. The place is covered in historic buildings, and skyscrapers tend to spoil the coastal views. So what happens next for Monaco is anyone’s guess, but for the time being, the nation can take pride in a job well done.
Maritera seamlessly blends into the coastline as if it’s been there for years. And for now, the extension answers the nation’s housing issues. We just don’t know what Monaco will do in the future if its population increases. But Maritara is an example of what can be achieved. This is land reclamation like you’ve never seen it before and a model that could soon be the gold standard adopted around the world.
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