A £2.7m Northumberland flood scheme has received a prestigious award.
The Ponteland Flood Alleviation scheme, delivered by Arup and BAM Nuttall for the Environment Agency, won the Medium Project Award category at the ICE North East's Robert Stephenson Awards annual ceremony earlier this month.
The Robert Stephenson Awards celebrate the best civil engineering project across the region.
Work on the flood scheme started in August 2020 and included replacing the existing flood defence on the south bank of the River Pont with one continuous sheet piled flood wall.
The wall was built to complement the existing local environment, with a stone effect and complementary colouring.
Ponteland Flood Alleviation Scheme. Picture: Bam Nuttall.
More than 250 trees were planted to replace those lost during construction and to enhance the local environment, including many in a meadow at Ponteland Community Primary School, as well as some adjacent to the river.
The scheme, which was completed last year, was one of 22 flood defence projects across the country to benefit from a £170million government funding boost which was announced in July 2020.
The investment brought forward work on flood defence schemes across the country to drive economic growth and better protect thousands of homes, businesses and jobs from the effects of flooding.
Ponteland received a £450,000 cash injection used to fill a shortfall in funding, allowing the Environment Agency to start construction immediately.
More than 250 homes and businesses in Ponteland are better protected from flooding now as a result of the scheme, the Environment Agency said.
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