Students from the University of Brighton have paid another visit to the Clay’s Lake Flood Prevention Scheme in West Sussex, where works have progressed during 2017 ahead of the winter shutdown.
The flood prevention works at Clay’s Lake are being carried out by Mackley working as part of Team Van Oord on behalf of the Environment Agency.
The Clay’s Lake project forms part of the Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme which was developed by the Environment Agency after floods in the Crawley area during 2000.
When complete, the scheme will reduce the risk of flood to more than 280 homes in the area, and to Gatwick Airport.
This is the third consecutive year that students from the University of Brighton have visited the site.
Dave Knapp, Mackley’s Business Development Manager, said:
“In 2014, I was invited to join the local Industrial Advisory Board which is based at the University of Sussex.
“The Board’s purpose is to forge links and partnerships between the university and business and industry, to both enhance students’ learning experience and make an important contribution to their successful development.
“These visits to our sites are a key part of that development.”
A key element of the project – the removal of an existing dam and its replacement with a larger dam to increase the lake’s capacity from 10,000 cubic metres to nearly 400,000 cubic metres – was completed on 22 September.
Other works are ongoing including reinstatement of the ‘borrow’ area which provided material for the new dam, and mitigation measures including the creation of a pond and tree pruning.
The winter shutdown will begin at the end of October, with works recommencing in April 2018 when the project team will return to complete the following activities:
- Various MEICA (mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and automation) works
- Trimming the overbuild from the embankment and installing grasscrete to the downstream spillway
- Creating an access track across the dam
- The installation of deer fencing and gates around the perimeter
- The completion of landscaping at the borrow area
- Installing fish brushes through the culvert
- Grass seeding the embankment
- Re-stocking the lake with fish
27 October 2017
