Torcross nominated for international engineering award
An Environment Agency project in Devon has been shortlisted for an international engineering award.
The sea wall, protecting a row of properties on the seafront at Torcross
Torcross sea defence repair is one of 10 projects worldwide nominated for the Institution of Civil Engineers People’s Choice Award 2018.
The award recognises top civil engineering projects and the winner is chosen by public vote. Anyone can vote - you can read about each of the 10 projects and vote on the ICE Website. Voting closes on 28 September 2018.
The Environment Agency team based in Devon worked with contractors Bam Nuttall Mott Macdonald Joint Venture (BMM JV) to complete the £2.4m project within 14 months of problems being identified. The work was funded by Defra flood defence grant in aid.
The original seawall was constructed in the 1980s, protecting a row of properties along the seafront. Significant storms since 2014 had caused beach levels to drop, leaving the wall’s foundations exposed. The winter storms of 2015/16 damaged the connecting road and caused movement in the wall and promenade. This indicated that the defence had been weakened and may no longer offer protection to adjacent properties.
The project had a tight deadline. The Environment Agency needed to identify the underlying issues with the wall and rectify them before the next winter storms arrived. The team faced a variety of challenges including tides encroaching into the working area, constrained access routes and a high risk of unexploded ordnance as Exercise Tiger - a live-fire training exercise for the D-Day landings - took place on the beach.
Environment Agency Project Manager Becky Richards said:
We would love Torcross to win this very prestigious industry award, but the competition is tough and we need votes to help us get to the top.
I’d like to thank all involved in getting us nominated, especially the local community who were really understanding throughout construction. Working with the tides meant long, noisy shifts. We couldn’t have completed the project so quickly without the support of people in Torcross.
Voting for Torcross takes less than a minute and you could help a local project be recognised as the international top civil engineering project of the year. The winner of this year’s People’s Choice Award will be announced on 6 November 2018.