Royal HaskoningDHV has just won the Innovative and Novel Project Category award at this year’s UK River Prize for its Knepp Castle river restoration project.
The company has been praised for its work on the River Adur, Knepp Castle Estate, West Sussex, winning the category at last night’s (May 19, 2015) award ceremony.
The awards were set up last year by the River Restoration Centre to inspire and celebrate innovation and best practice in river restoration and catchment management.
Using a Nature Driven Design philosophy, Royal HaskoningDHV’s team of geomorphologists, ecologists and engineers worked in partnership with the Knepp Castle Estate, Environment Agency, Natural England and Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust to develop innovative designs for the restoration of the river.
Dr Ian Dennis , Geomorphology and River Restoration Practice Lead at Royal HaskoningDHV, said: “ The problem we faced was that the channel had been diverted and enlarged, which meant that there was very low flow, the river was also disconnected from its floodplain.
“ Work on the project involved creating new channels as well as removing the four redundant weirs. We also created two new backwaters and blocked drainage ditches to retain water on the floodplain and support the development of natural wetland habitats. ”
Royal HaskoningDHV was asked to design the project back in 2009 and construction work was completed in July 2014.