Environmental sustainability at the heart of the project’s development, design and delivery
The Llyn Tegid Reservoir Safety Improvements Project has won the Alun Griffiths Community Engagement Award at the ICE Wales Cymru Awards. It is a project that took place in an environmentally sensitive location within Snowdonia National Park. Binnies, along with its partners, is very happy to share in the success of Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
Embodied carbon significantly reduced
The Llyn Tegid Reservoir Safety Improvements scheme provides flood protection to the town of Bala through compliance with reservoir safety legislation. The design successfully halved construction costs against the original forecast; embodied carbon was significantly reduced by designing controlled overtopping rather than embankment raising and over 70,000 tonnes of materials were reused.
The scheme was developed and delivered applying the nine principles of the sustainable management of natural resources (SMNR) that were introduced by the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. Environmental sustainability was at the heart of the project’s development, design and delivery, as the scheme sought to enhance habitats and biodiversity. Stakeholder collaboration, extensive consultation and public participation helped to ensure local tourism interests were both understood and incorporated, promoting economic sustainability. The scheme provided multiple benefits to the community and resilience for supporting ecosystems.
On winning the ICE Cymru Wales 2023 Civil Engineering Award with the Llyn Tegid project, NRW’s Chief Executive Clare Pillman said: “We are delighted to have won the Engagement Award. The impacts of flooding can be devastating and long lasting. As climate change brings more frequent extreme weather events, the work to strengthen the lake’s embankments will help reduce the flood risk to the town of Bala.
“This is an example of the standard of work taking place to help provide a range of benefits to communities across Wales. Local people played a key role in shaping the project and their input, particularly concerning the environmental and recreation opportunities, was implemented alongside the work.
Andrew Basford, Project Manager for NRW said: “The project team has performed well and collaborated to a high standard to ensure every opportunity has been maximised. By involving the public and stakeholders throughout, the project has been able to deliver multiple benefits and in doing so has achieved good value for money.”
Binnies NRW Framework Manager Alex Humphreys commented: “This scheme maximised economic and environmental benefits and social value, in alignment with the Welsh Government’s wellbeing goals. Stakeholder collaboration and extensive consultation and public participation helped to ensure local tourism interests were understood and incorporated, promoting economic sustainability.
“A huge thank you to our partners William Hughes and Arcadis for the collaborative approach, which enabled the project to contribute to Wales’s sustainability and social value goals.”