How Land & Water is maintaining and enhancing material and natural structures to safeguard the future of the UK’s waterways

The UK government has continued to discuss the importance of delivering an infrastructure revolution to help level up the country and put the country on its path towards becoming carbon net zero by 2050. Within this financial year, there is going to be an investment of £27 billion towards structural improvements alone.

As leading wet civil engineers, Land & Water maintains and enhances a variety of material and natural structures to safeguard the future of the UK’s waterways. From restoring the Grand Cascade Apron at Blenheim Palace to erecting new bridges across different parts of the UK, the company prides itself on having the specialist knowledge and sustainable capabilities to carry out essential structural works that aim to improve the environmental and economical landscape of the UK. 

After having recently opened its new regional hub in Newcastle upon Tyne, which sees its offering extend North, Land & Water is using its specialist equipment and marine expertise to demolish and rebuild the Ro-Ro Linkspan bridge at Tees Dock. This not only redevelops the RoRo to allow for larger vessels to berth but it strengthens the position of Teesport as the UK’s Northern Gateway for international trade.

Land & Water’s Contracts Manager, Andy McBride, says: “Working with PD Ports to redevelop the Ro-Ro and allow larger vessels to berth at Tees Dock is incredibly significant for Land & Water. “We are very much looking forward to consolidating our place within the northern infrastructure sector in what is an extremely exciting time for the region as it continues to show it is a truly outward-looking, international region ready to welcome the cutting-edge sectors of the future.”

Bridges over water are a critical component of our country’s infrastructure and are vital in connecting communities, goods, and services. Complex and specialist projects are what Land & Water does best. In Taplow, Berkshire, the firm installed a footbridge over the River Thames to connect Ray Mill Island with a new housing development.

The construction of the bridge from the land was not possible, due to the complex riverside location of the site, meaning the project team had to install an extensive amount of piled foundations whilst reinforcing concrete abutments to support a statement bridge. 

This challenge was then accentuated by the need to complete one of the abutments entirely from the water requiring specialist equipment, including pontoons and cranes specifically designed for the task.

The 40-tonne bridge was then delivered in pieces and assembled a mile down river.

Land & Water has always prided itself on being an innovative contractor and finding solutions to complex access problems.

Most recently, Land & Water completed works at the ‘Unlocking the Severn’ fish pass construction site at Holt Weir, along the River Severn in Worcestershire. One of the many highlights from the project was that it successfully placed a 100t crane onto a 17-piece Ravestein pontoon to overcome access difficulties such as the logistics of working on the River Severn which is known to flood quite quickly.

The fish pass works, which were part of one of the largest river restoration projects of its kind in Europe, will enable the rare migratory fish, the Shad, to travel to their natural spawning grounds for the first time in nearly 180 years, whilst benefiting salmon, eels, and lamprey.

Land & Water is committed towards delivering, maintaining and sustaining the UK’s natural capital, improving the ecosystem of our waterways for years to come whilst restoring structures to provide that additional futureproofing.

Since 2020, the firm has been carrying out works at Blenheim Palace as part of a wider restoration project at the World Heritage Site. Its first phase of engineering included the recovery of the Grand Cascade Apron, which controls the lakes at Blenheim and are fed from the River Glyme, including the apron, weir wall and foundations, alongside the main head bank wave wall. A resin injection cut off wall, the largest undertaken in the UK to date, was then installed, running the full width of the apron, to seal against any future water ingress issues.

With the landscapes of Blenheim representing the prestigious work of Capability Brown, Land & Water is prioritising the conservation of the site’s history and craftsmanship from over 300 years ago. 

Kevin Kirkland, Managing Director at Land & Water says: “Land & Water has proudly positioned itself as a leading dredging, wet civils and environmental contractor over the past few years and has an extensive repertoire of working on complex structural projects under its belt.

“As we continue to innovate and collaborate, strengthening our position within the construction sector, we are committed towards growing and thriving as a responsible and sustainable business.”