THE Mersey Flood Defence scheme at Warrington, completed in June last year, is in the running for a prestigious civil engineering award.
The Institution of Civil Engineers has announced that the scheme, completed in June last year, is a finalist in this year’s North West Civil Engineering Awards.
The winners will be announced at a black-tie awards dinner at Blackpool on March 10.
Work was carried out at the Twiggeries, Paddington Bank, Cinnamon Brow and local allotments, creating new flood wall defences along the right bank of the River Mersey though both residential and public areas.
The work included a new sheet piled wall which was clad with high-specification precast concrete panels intended to improve the visual appearance for the surrounding community. The project also created a new wetland habitat which can act as a flood storage basin in periods of heavy rainfall.
The multi-million scheme, commissioned by the Environment Agency in partnership with the borough council, is one of 13 nominations in the Medium Project Award category. The principal designer for the project was Salford-based Jacobs
“Our annual awards help showcase some of the fantastic civil engineering that’s happening across the region, and Warrington-based companies have featured heavily amongst the winners.”
Mark Shephard, divisional director at Jacobs, said: “I am delighted that combined efforts of the client, council, design and construction team in delivering this important flood alleviation project have been recognised by this award nomination. By putting the needs of the community at the heart of the design development process, the project has delivered much more than just flood protection.
“Creating new areas of environmental habitat, reconnecting disjointed footpaths and providing a high quality landscape finish has created a better place for the community with the added peace of mind that the risk of flooding has been reduced.”
This year’s North West Civil Engineering Awards are sponsored by GHD.
Some of the artwork along the flood wall
