Through a combination of sponsorship, exhibiting and speaking at the conference, Mackley will be fully involved at this week’s Flood & Coast 2016 event in Telford.
Convened by the Environment Agency, Flood & Coast 2016 (23-25 Feb) will tackle the big questions and challenges in flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) delivery.
Under the theme ‘Risk, Resilience and Response in a Changing Climate’ the event will embrace the concept of a changing climate and draw on expertise and experience from within the UK, the EU and the rest of the world. The three-day programme of workshops, debate and panel sessions has been tailored to topics selected by a government and industry advisory panel.
Mackley will be represented on the conference programme by Jacqui Bandy (pictured) who will deliver a presentation on the multi-award winning Medmerry Managed Realignment Scheme in West Sussex.
Jacqui’s presentation, delivered on behalf of Team Van Oord and titled ‘Medmerry managed realignment – changing the minds and coast of Sussex’, is scheduled for Wednesday 24 February at 14.30pm.
Medmerry in West Sussex is the UK’s largest open-coast managed realignment scheme. The ambitious project now protects more than 350 homes from coastal flooding and has allowed the creation of large areas of new, sheltered intertidal waters to compensate for the loss of protected wildlife habitats in the Solent.
Proof of the scheme’s success came in 2014 when it protected communities from the worst storms for decades.
Jacqui will explain how the project was truly collaborative. As an example, the RSPB was involved in habitat design and now manages the site as a nature reserve. In 2013 the rare Black-Winged Stilt nested there, the first time this bird has successfully hatched eggs in the UK for 30 years.
She will also outline how the local community was engaged right from the outset, and why the approach taken at Medmerry is now considered best practice within the Environment Agency. Medmerry is also having a positive impact on the local economy by encouraging more tourists to visit the area.
Jacqui will explain how Mackley is still learning from the scheme through a suite of environmental and physical parameters which are being monitored for at least five years to measure its long-term impact.
She will suggest that rising sea levels and the economic challenges of maintaining coastal sea defences will make coastal realignment an increasingly sustainable option in the future.
In conclusion, she will outline how the uniqueness, scale and innovative ecological approaches implemented at Medmerry are influencing Environment Agency policies on the economic and environmental benefits of managing coastal flood risk through managed realignment.
Flood & Coast 2016, co-sponsored by Mackley, will be held at the Telford International Centre, Tuesday 23 – Thursday 25 February 2016. Mackley can be found in the exhibition on Stand D8.
Monday 22 February 2016
