​We were contracted in by one for our longstanding customers a leading environmental consultancy in the UK to mobilise a team into this project. 

 

This job was extremely sensitive due to the location and the fact there was a big amount of publicity surrounding the works.

 

The job was to create wetland series of ponds and weirs to settle out the storm water from the surrounding town then connect that to a new stretch of river we created to pick up a number of natural springs along its route creating a natural river/stream to feed a lovely stretch of chalk stream.

 

The site was hampered by a number of challenges including, soft ground, tight access and thick undergrowth along the way.

 

The ground was so soft that we had to constantly work off a series of bog mats to allow us to move around safely, in some places we had to use multiple layers of this to stop our equipment sinking and getting stuck.

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 We had to create temporary granular haul roads to allow muck away out and feedstock in. These had to be sufficient in strength to withstand loaded construction plant and then removed prior to completion of the project. We undertook this work using our tracked skid steers which are ideal for this type of work. 

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 We created a new stream though step cuts and installed new river gravels and natural features in a linear fashion completing sections fully before progressing down the river channel this limited the amount of disruption to the areas wildlife. Working from the downstream up allowed us to work in better conditions and removed our need for over pumping making it more eco friendly and less disruptive to the habitat. 

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 We also installed chestnut posts for the site team to install revetments this was done using one of our own attachments. This was designed and modified in house, it is a conventional pecker which has been adapted to pick the post up with a hydraulic grab, and then knock the post in, meaning a post could be placed with the excavator and then driven into the ground, removing the need for manual handling of the post and increasing efficiency of the task, this method installed 60 posts per hour on this project.

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 Nearing completion of the project we had a large flooding event that submerged our temporary works and almost put an end to the project but due to our experience and working method we were able to continue working managing to complete the project within the programme. 

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 Demobilisation from the site was undertaken with our tracked skid steers which were equipped with buckets, brushes and pallet forks leaving the site in very clean and tidy state.