Mackley completed the largest managed alignment of the open coast in Europe and the first in the UK. Managed realignment involves building new defences inland from the coast and allowing a new intertidal area to form seaward of the new defences.
Key points
- We reused 100% of the excavated clay and other materials to form the new embankments - saving 40,000 lorries and over 3 years delivery time by road.
- We avoided importing new and part established plants by translocating the existing reeds.
- Over 1,000 reptiles were safely moved to the new freshwater wetlands we had created.
- Evidence of the success of the scheme can be seen in the video of over 50 Starry Smooth-hound Sharks in the inlet channel.
- Some water vole were trapped and overwintered in a special facility before being transferred to the new habitat. Others were moved within the site through habitat manipulation.
- We created 183 Hectares of new wetland habitats
- New badger setts were created and the badgers transferred safely.
- We incorporated ecological mitigation for birds by planning our construction alongside farming practices – we made sure there were suitable habitats on site at all times.
- We built eight large concrete flood control/water conveyance structures into the embankments with integrated flap valves to prevent saline ingress into the freshwater ecosystems inland.