Two more industry awards have been bestowed to a Hampshire company for its flood protection work at an important site which powers households and businesses across south-west England.
The £8m project for National Grid, at the Walham 400KV electricity substation on the River Severn flood plain in Gloucestershire, impressed judges at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards 2015 South West.
Walham, an 18-month scheme by Southampton-based Trant Engineering to provide permanent protection against a 1-in-1,000-year flood event, was named project of the year and infrastructure winner.
Trant, a multi-disciplinary contractor with 850 staff and in its 57th year, will be automatically be entered into the RICS Awards 2015 Grand Final at London’s Dorchester Hotel on October 16.
Lynn Robinson, RICS’ regional director, said: “The RICS Awards showcase and celebrate the most inspirational building initiatives in the South West, not to mention the talent behind them.
“Another important factor in the judging, and something the awards recognise is the importance of these projects within communities and their impact on those who live and work there. Something clearly visible in this particular project.”
RICS’ two accolades mean the Walham project has won four awards in total. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) voted the scheme major award winner and member’s award winner at its annual awards for civil engineering excellence in the South West.
Mark Swallow is the Commercial Director at Trant Engineering, which was Walham’s design-and-build principal contractor.
He said: “RICS has a fantastic reputation and we are honoured that our vital flood defence work at Walham, for National Grid, has been recognised by the profession.
“The scheme was challenging in it had to be carried out without interruption to power supplies, while some of the wettest weather on record meant we had to contend with the threat of flooding before the new perimeter defence wall was built.”
Installation of a new flood defence wall comprised steel-sheet piling and a 1.6m-high concrete wall with electrified palisade fence and pulse fencing, with an overall height of 5.6m.
The scheme was required following flooding in July 2007, which made national headlines as the substation was in danger of being overwhelmed – rescue teams saved the facility through sandbagging in a race against time.
Hosted by Alex Lovell, a TV presenter on BBC Points West, the RICS’ awards attracted 42 shortlisted entries across eight categories. They were held at the Bristol Marriott Hotel, Bristol.
