Back, left to right – Steve Lyons and Louise Greenwood (HDC Countryside Service), Mavis and Colin Gray (Fleet Pond Society), David Ryan (WM Longreach) and Becky Burvill (Johns Associates).
Front, left to right – Adam Green (HDC L&EP and Project Lead) and Damian McGettrick (Director, WM Longreach).
Visitors to Fleet Pond over the past year have been witness to the vast amount of work taking place as a result of the Fleet Pond Restoration Project. Now this outstanding work has been recognised by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) which named the project winner of the ‘Sustainability and Environmental Management Award’ at the ICE South East England Engineering Excellence Awards 2013. Representatives of the project team were delighted to be presented with the trophy at the awards ceremony on 21st June in Southampton (see photo above).
This Award recognises the excellence of the works carried out by the Fleet Pond Restoration Project Team consisting of:
- The Environment Agency
- Fleet Pond Society
- Hart District Council
- Johns Associates
- Natural England
- WM Longreach.
The works involved dredging the lake and reusing the sediment to create islands to act as wind barriers to stop silt clouding the water. Retaining structures were installed to ensure the silt does not spread back over the pond base and the islands will allow colonisation by native reeds thus creating new habitats.
Cllr Sara Kinnell, Hart District Council portfolio holder for Leisure and Environmental Promotion said: “A great achievement for a well deserving project. I’d like to thank Johns Associates and WM Longreach for making this happen and to the partners for fifteen years of hard work in creating the right environment for success.”
Colin Gray, Chairman of Fleet Pond Society said: “The nominees for this prestigious award presented many high quality and high cost engineering projects. We had some strong competition so to win is a very clear recognition of the achievement by the Project Team. Johns Associates and WM Longreach deserve special praise for the design and construction work.”