Bristol Water Wins Design Award for Reservoir
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government
Design Work on a New Reservoir at Cheddar Has Been Awarded for Sustainability Strategy and Performance by CEEQUAL
The InterimClient and Design Award for Bristol Water, as the client, and consulting engineers Arup, as the designer, came from CEEQUAL, the Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment and Award Scheme. It was achieved after a lengthy assessment and verification process.
The project achieved a 90% rating for sustainability strategy and 80.5% for sustainability performance. Both are in the ‘excellent' category.
The award was presented at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management South West annual dinner in Taunton on Friday.
Professor Roger Venables, chief executive officer of CEEQUAL, presented the award, which was received by Bristol Water's BW's Environment Manager Patric Bulmer and Arup civil engineer Sarah Niven.
Cheddar Reservoir 2 project spokesman Jeremy Williams said the award was a tribute to the whole project team. "It shows just how much effort went into every aspect of the design and the high importance placed on sustainability and environmental protection.
"Sustainability was an important design consideration from the outset, including in the selection of the original site," he said. "The overarching project vision and objectives, as set by Bristol Water, had sustainability at their core.
"Design decisions took into account sustainability outcomes, and additional sustainability opportunities were sought and considered at key points.
"Consultation and engagement were thorough and far-reaching as the project progressed to planning. Key stakeholders were identified early on, comments were taken on board and fed back to the wider design team for action.
"Bristol Water's objective is to create a new reservoir which becomes even more important for biodiversity than the existing one, and will also become an SSSI. As well as reducing any negative impacts, the project will result in the creation of new habitats, in particular the creation of wet woodlands and wetland habitats through the development of a flood compensation area.
"Enhanced amenity value was one of the key drivers of the project, potentially providing a major new recreational facility for local communities."
Background:
* The reservoir's story: Bristol Water believes that the £125m reservoir, if built, will provide a much-needed new source of water in Somerset - as well as being of enormous long term recreational and conservation benefit. The scheme, designed to create a new reservoir close to the existing one, received planning permission from Sedgemoor Council in June this year. A detailed S106 agreement on planning conditions and mitigation measures is now close to completion. However, even after that, the project investment will need regulatory approval from Ofwat, the water industry's economic regulator, before any further work can start.
* What's CEEQUAL ? It celebrates the commitment of the civil engineering industry to achieve high environmental, economic and social performance. It rewards project and contract teams that go beyond the legal, environmental and social minima in order to achieve distinctive environmental and social performance in their work.
Project Strategy covers how the project team has related their project to the wider sustainability agenda surrounding civil engineering and infrastructure projects, and their contribution to ‘sustainable development'. It prompts project teams to ask themselves such questions as ‘Is there evidence that the client and designer have actively adopted the principles of sustainable development in the planning and design of the project?' and to undertake studies of the project and its likely impacts to a wider remit than just the interests of the project's promoter.
The aim is that the results might then lead to improvements, and to a judgement by the project team on whether their project is assisting the communities it serves to move on the pathway to more-sustainable living.
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