A scheme by London practice Tonkin Liu to overhaul the esplanade at Dover in Kent officially opened this week.

The firm’s Lifting Wave, Resting Wave, Lighting Wave project was the winning design in a competition organised by the Landscape Institute for a collection of clients which include the Dover Harbour Board, the district council and English Heritage.

The £2 million project, which has been part funded by Cabe’s now defunct Sea Change programme, creates a 3,500sq m promenade connecting the town’s Eastern and Western docks.

For the Lifting Wave part of the project, a repeated form of sculptural ramps and staircases made of pre-cast white concrete rise and fall to connect the esplanade to the shingle beach. Rainwater is channelled along the slatted surface into a gully running along the side of the ramp.

Resting Wave, which includes a series of weathered oak benches designed to resemble driftwood, features a sculptured retaining wall running the entire length of the esplanade and is designed to prevent fly posting and discourage tagging.

Lighting Wave meanwhile is a sculptural wave of white columns. This feature includes public lighting with flood lights to shine on the Lifting Wave and medium spot lights focused on the Resting Wave. Mini spot lights illuminate the decorative “froth” of the Lighting Wave.

Work on the seafront is part of a wider £3.7 million Sea Change grant awarded by Cabe to Kent County Council to revamp the town and seafront.

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