A delegation of senior managers from the Environment Agency last week enjoyed an ‘informative’ site visit to a flood alleviation scheme being delivered by Mackley as part of Team Van Oord.
The Environment Agency party, which included the Agency’s new Chief Executive, Sir James Bevan, visited the Clay’s Lake site, near Pease Pottage on Tuesday 7 June.
Sir James Bevan joined the Environment Agency as Chief Executive in late November 2015.
Sir James has had a long career in government including a spell as UK High Commissioner to India and a number of senior posts in the Foreign and Commonwealth.
As Chief Executive, Sir James (right) is the leader of the Environment Agency and responsible for day-to-day management of the organisation.
The flood prevention works being carried out by Mackley at Clay’s Lake are part of the Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme which was developed by the Environment Agency after floods in the Crawley area during 2000.
The works comprise the removal of an existing dam which is being replaced with a larger dam. This will increase the lake’s capacity from 10,000 cubic metres to nearly 400,000 cubic metres, thereby reducing the risk of flood to more than 280 homes in the area, and to Gatwick Airport.
The Mackley and Team Van Oord party that hosted the visit included Maurits den Broeder, Chairman of Team Van Oord; Stephen Brown, the new Mackley Project Manager on site; and Dan Burden, the scheme’s Engineer.
Speaking after the visit, Andrew Gilham, Environment Agency Progamme Delivery Manager, said: “Thank you and your teams for making James Bevan’s visit such a success.
“James found the day very informative and he certainly went away with a clear understanding of some of the challenges we are facing, as well as a very positive impression of how we are all working collaboratively to deliver locally for our communities.”
The Clay’s Lake scheme has previously hosted two other site visits.
In April, around 40 members of the IOSH South Downs Branch made an ‘enjoyable, interesting and informative site visit’.
In November 2015, a party of students from the University of Brighton also visited Clays Lake to gain ‘real life experience’ though a visit to a civil engineering site.
13 June 2016
