MARKETS/SERVICES
Introduction
Market Sectors
Services - Buildings
Services - Environment
■	Air Quality Management
■	Archaeology
■	Asset Management
■	Aviation
■	Coastal Management
■	Contaminated Land
■	Dams & Reservoirs
■	Development Infrastructure
■	Ecology
■	Environmental Engineering
■	Environmental Impact Assessment
■	Environmental Management
■	Environmental Monitoring
■	Flood Risk Management
	■	Braid Burn Flood Prevention Scheme
	■	Pendle Water Flood Alleviation Scheme
	■	River Witham Phase 2 and 3
	■	Strategic Flood Risk Management Framework
	■	Wallasea Wetland Creation Project
■	Geotechnical
■	Pipelines and Water Distribution
■	Renewable Energy
■	Sewerage
■	Small Hydro Power
■	Waste Management
■	Water & Wastewater Treatment
■	Water Management
Services - Transportation
Capabilities A - Z

Environment Brochure

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River Witham Phase 2 and 3

Lincoln to Boston, UK

Project outline

The feasibility, detailed design and contract administration for the raising and strengthening of 30km of flood defences encompassing 51 sites on the River Witham between Lincoln and Boston in Lincolnshire.

Contract value

£12m

Key features

Partnering based approach using New Engineering Contract
Innovative use of tyre bales in flood embankment design
Transportation of embankment fill material by barge
Creation of wetland from local borrow pit
Winner of ICE Hambly Award 2005 for contribution to sustainability
Highly commended in the ICE East Midlands Region Awards
Finalist for Flemming Award 2004 for excellence in geotechnical design and construction

Skills utilised

Hydrological and hydraulic modelling
Option appraisal
Economic assessment for grant funding
River engineering
Geotechnical design
Environmental Impact Assessment
Archaeology
Ecology
Contract strategy
Site supervision

Project detail

The River Witham Phase 2 and 3 Contract comprises a £12million package of flood defence works undertaken for the Environment Agency in partnership with Faber Maunsell and May Gurney Construction. The works entail the raising and strengthening of 30km of flood embankment encompassing 51 sites on the River Witham in Lincolnshire.

Faber Maunsell developed the scheme from Strategy Study through feasibility study and undertook detailed design, contract administration and site supervision.

Utilising the Engineering and Construction Contract (Target Cost), open plan co-located offices, a true teamwork approach, a project Extranet and the retention of the core project staff the project is able to demonstrate best practice, workable solutions and cost savings compared to other single site traditional contracts.

The integrated team enables innovative solutions to be identified and tried as alternatives to more traditional earth embankment construction. For example: use of local borrow pits, waterborne transport, ‘water vole friendly’ erosion protection, alternative engineering design, such as the tyre bale embankment and a project that is being heralded by the client as best practice.

The tyre bales were used to strengthen an existing flood embankment, thus reducing the embankment footprint and avoiding the need to re-locate a powerline and an environmentally sensitive watercourse. In addition, the solution offered a constructive use for scrap tyres, the disposal of which is becoming increasingly difficult as legislation precludes them from going to landfill. In all, it is estimated that approximately 10% of the typical annual scrap tyres wastage in the UK was used in the embankment. This part of the scheme won the ICE Hambly Award in 2005 for contribution to sustainability and was Highly Commended in the ICE East Midlands Region Awards.

In addition, the significant amount of clay material required for improvement of the embankments led to the need to source material from local borrow pits. A site was identified adjacent to the river and from the outset it was agreed to restore the site afterwards to a wetland for wildlife benefit. This has been successfully achieved including the construction of a bird hide in the style of an iron age roundhouse and will now be managed by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The part of the scheme was also Commended in the ICE East Midlands Region Awards.

For more information, please contact Peter Myers.