Moffat Beach Seawall Is Finished: Final Western Foreshore Works Run to Early December, Part of the Car Park Is Fenced (Caloundra, QLD)

The Moffat Beach seawall is finished, and the council has told visitors it is a good time to go back to the beach, the cafés and the shops. The last stage is the western foreshore, where temporary fencing closes part of the car park and a garden area until the final landscaping is done in early December 2026. Sunshine Coast Council runs the project, and this guide uses its project page, checked on Monday 9 November 2026. Times are Queensland time, which has no daylight saving.

Is the Moffat Beach seawall finished?

Yes. The council says it has completed the seawall reconstruction, which began in May 2025 and took more than a year. The western section was damaged by severe weather and rainfall in 2022, and the middle and eastern sections were affected in early 2024. The project includes a reconstructed seawall, upgraded beach access points, improved public spaces, landscaping, renewed pathways, drainage improvements and enhanced viewing areas.

Stage	What the council says
Seawall reconstruction	Complete
Final western foreshore works	Started on 20 October 2026; expected to take approximately three weeks, weather permitting
Irrigation, landscaping and turf	Over the next month, with completion in early December
Completion celebration	An event planned for the new year; no date given

The original completion date was April 2026. The council says that date was no longer achievable because working in the tidal zone was far more restrictive than forecast, and earlier supply delays pushed key work into summer, the hardest season for beach conditions and sand erosion.

What is still fenced off at Moffat Beach?

To finish the western foreshore, the council has set up two temporary construction zones:

• A materials storage area: a section of the car park is fenced and used to store construction materials and equipment.
• A construction work area: the garden area next to the western foreshore is fenced so work can happen safely.

The existing fence in front of the park seating area will be removed and replaced with a sandstone block wall to match the eastern foreshore. The council says the community’s feedback on the western barrier fence led it to assess alternatives, and it chose to remove the fence and add a concrete slab and sandstone block wall. It says this keeps appropriate safety outcomes while giving a more open and cohesive foreshore.

The council has not published how many car spaces are lost while the car park section is fenced. Our Halloween guide noted the council’s earlier warning that parking was a little tighter than usual.

What about the beach accesses and the goat track?

During construction, Beach Access 274 and 275, and the sandy beach between the goat track (the rock shelf entry) and Beach Access 274, were closed for safety, because heavy equipment and machinery were using that beach space. The goat track itself stayed open for walking down onto the rock shelf as usual, but the beach you would normally reach from the goat track was closed.

The council’s page uses the past tense for those closures and does not say that the accesses have reopened.

What will the foreshore look like when it is done?

The finalised landscape plan reinstates picnic tables, seating benches, beach accesses and showers, garden beds and tree plantings in the parkland. According to the council, the main changes are:

Change	Detail from the council
Car park	Realigned to create more open space behind the seawall, after receiving 75 per cent support in consultation
Coastal pathway	A wider upgraded path through the space, which the council says will make the walk to the shops safer by reducing conflict with vehicles
Shade	Three new Coastal Banksias, added after people asked for more shade near the new seating areas
Norfolk Island pines	Retained; the seawall was designed around them and built from the beach so their root zones were not disturbed
Succession planting	Not included; the council says the idea needs deeper investigation than this project allows

Earlier this year the community was invited to comment on a draft landscape plan. On succession planting, which means planting new trees near maturing ones, 65 per cent of responses were supportive, but many supporters wanted native species and no loss of open space. The council says that shows the question is more complex than it expected, so it left succession planting out of this project. It also says the final design is not a direct copy of any single suggestion.

The council adds that it cannot guarantee the survival of every tree, because some roots were mingled with the old seawall, and that care of the pines after the seawall is completed will be ongoing. An arborist advised the construction team throughout.

Why did it take so long?

The council gave several reasons in its project FAQs:

• Small changes in swell or tide removed the beach area needed for construction, and sand levels kept shifting.
• Swell forecasts were only reliable three to five days ahead, and crews needed a favourable window of about four hours to start work.
• The wall was built from the beach rather than from behind it, to protect the Norfolk pines, which cut the working windows.
• Crews built temporary rock bag platforms so the excavators had a surface to work from.
• According to the council, a four-hour low-tide window builds about 5 metres of wall to mid-height, while the same length at full height can need an eight-hour window, which is rare.

What has the council done for local businesses?

The council says its Place Activation Officer and local businesses worked together throughout construction. The highlights it lists are weekly meetings of the Moffat Beach Business Advisory Group, three Moffat Beach Street Parties, Sunset Cinema events in Eleanor Shipley Park, marketing and promotional support for local businesses, and thousands of visitors returning to the precinct through community activations. It also points businesses to its Economic Development Team’s guide and checklist for preparing for construction impacts.

The Moffat Beach Halloween street party on Saturday 31 October was covered in our Sunshine Coast Halloween guide.

Where can I get updates?

The council publishes community updates on the project page. Its latest listed update is dated 17 September 2026, followed by 7 August, 24 April, 24 March and 27 February 2026, and 16 December 2025. The page is where the council posts changes to the fencing. Our guide to Sunshine Coast patrolled beaches covers the patrolled beaches nearby, including Kings Beach and Dicky Beach.

Sources

• Sunshine Coast Council — Moffat Beach seawall reconstruction project (project status, fenced areas, beach accesses, landscape plan, FAQs; checked 9 November 2026)

Featured image: Kings Beach at Caloundra, Queensland, photographed in June 2025 (photo: Chris Olszewski / CC BY-SA 4.0) (text added)

OZ Local Updates is an independent local guide and is not affiliated with Sunshine Coast Council. Works, fencing and dates can change.