£18.5m Multiple Pitch Construction Completed

Specialist sports turf contractor Duncan Ross has completed a multiple-pitch construction and drainage project as part of the £18.5 million Skirting Beck and Whangs Beck Flood Risk Management Scheme in Egremont.
 
Formally opened on the 9th December 2022 by MP for Copeland, Trudy Harrison, the scheme reduces the flood risk to 220 properties in the area while improving sports surfaces and facilities for the local community.
 

Volker Stevin and the Environment Agency created a Flood Plane to intercept and attenuate surface water from Skirting Beck before it reached Egremont Town, causing flooding in periods of heavy rain.

The area chosen to create the flood plane and surface water control system was on a 25hectre disused hard porous pitch and tennis courts attached to West Lakes Academy. During design works, Sport England stipulated that the site had to remain suitable for sports.

The flood plane is designed to retain flood water by the construction of a retaining wall around the outside of the site, with the river then being choked at the outlet end and open at the inlet end.

The stream then flows over the stream bank onto the flood plane and is retained until other surface water in the town has receded, creating a water priority system.

Once the flood plane area is drained down, it needs to again be suitable for sport. For this reason, Duncan Ross Ltd was employed under the design of the drainage system by professional design consultants PSD Ltd.

The upper 150mm thick surface was removed from the hard porous area and tarmac tennis courts and replaced by imported topsoil. A GPS grade control bulldozer graded the topsoil to create the exact gradients of the exiting area so as not to decrease or increase the holding capacity of the flood plane.

The drainage outlets were then created, and a new drainage system was installed by a GPS guided 15/15 Mastenbroek trencher. The Environment Agency monitored all works to prevent any contamination to Skirking Beck.

The area was then sand ameliorated with a 50mm layer thickness of medium fine sand and seeded. Once the sward had established, the area had slit drains installed at 1m centres and all spoil was removed from site, the area was then topdressed at 180 tonnes/hectare verti-drained and fertilised.

Some of the difficulties encountered were the sourcing of a suitable 6000tonne topsoil to match as near as possible local soil, working within such a narrow access site, sourcing materials to Egremont, and working on site during Covid and all that entailed.

One of the many positives was working with Volker Stevin staff on this project, who provided excellent leadership and whose attention to all health and safety matters was exemplary.

The works will be completed in May 2023.

On the project, MP Trudy Harrison said: “This is a milestone day for the Egremont community. This area has suffered the devastating impact of repeated flooding for many years, and this significant investment will now make a real difference to families and businesses locally.

“I’d like to thank the Environment Agency and all the partners for working together for the benefit of the community.”