Torcross nominated for ICE award

A sea defence project in Devon has been shortlisted for an international engineering award.

The Environment Agency’s Torcross sea defence repair project is just one of ten projects worldwide nominated for the Institution of Civil Engineers People’s Choice Award 2018. The award recognises top civil engineering projects and the winner is chosen by public vote.

The Environment Agency team based in Devon worked with contractors Bam Nuttall Mott Macdonald Joint Venture (BMM JV) to complete the £2.4M project within 14 months of problems being identified. The work was funded by Defra flood defence grant in aid.

The repairs were required as lowered beach levels caused the sea defence foundations to become exposed, and winter storms of 2015/6 caused further damage to the road, wall and promenade. Constructed in the 1980s, the sea wall defences needed to be repaired in order to maintain protection to adjacent properties.

With a tight deadline – working in to resolve the issues before the seasonal storms begin, the Environment Agency needed to identify the underlying issues with the wall and rectify them. The team faced a variety of challenges including tides encroaching into the working area, constrained access routes and a high risk of unexploded ordnance as Exercise Tiger – a live-fire training exercise for the D-Day landings – took place on the beach.

Environment Agency Project Manager Becky Richards said: “We would love Torcross to win this very prestigious industry award, but the competition is tough and we need votes to help us get to the top.

“I’d like to thank all involved in getting us nominated, especially the local community who were really understanding throughout construction. Working with the tides meant long, noisy shifts. We couldn’t have completed the project so quickly without the support of people in Torcross.”

The winner of this year’s People’s Choice Award will be announced on 6 November 2018.

Anyone can vote – you can read about each of the ten projects and vote on the ICE Website. Voting closes on 28 September 2018.

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