West Midlands - civil engineering awards

The £1.2 Million Hagley sewerage project was promoted to alleviate sewer flooding, which affected several properties and highway locations. The flooding was occurring due to hydraulic incapacity within the sewerage system, together with high surface water runoff. A holistic solution was delivered by working with the Environment Agency, North Worcestershire Water Management and Worcestershire County Council, utilising a jointly agreed stakeholder communication strategy.

Several of the 1275m of sewers were installed at sensitive locations. The requirement for effective community engagement, to manage potential conflict, was therefore identified at a very early stage. The delivery of regular presentations at parish meetings, commencing two years prior to work commencing at several sensitive locations, sets this project apart. Measures to address stakeholder concerns have been agreed and communicated in a timely manner, demonstrating the team's achievement in putting customers first. Project delivery within the required budget and timescale has fulfilled our commitments to customers.

Recognising the need to redress an ageing workforce in the sector as well as the levels of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) the Midland Metro Alliance engaged with local colleges, the DfE, councils and other funding bodies to deliver a bespoke six-week Sector Based Work Academy (SBWA) in Light Rail.

The region is seeing the highest levels of investment in the transportation sector in decades with the extension of the Midland Metro, the forthcoming works for High Speed Rail (HS2) and high profile motorway maintenance projects having an impact on the availability of skilled and semi¬skilled labour available.

The SBWA offered unemployed candidates, aged 18 and over, with an opportunity to achieve accredited qualifications, develop personal skills and gain the practical experience required to kick-start a career in the light rail sector, as well as a guaranteed job interview on completion, with the Midland Metro Alliance.

The Geological situation in the Black Country region favoured exploitation during the Industrial Revolution of the raw materials for iron making. From a single relatively shallow shaft coal, iron ore and limestone was obtained as a flux. The limestone had been removed by “pillar and room” working, a system leaving the roof of the mine supported by limestone pillars. The presence of these mines had been known for many years without problems, but degradation of the mine roof and pillar collapse began to cause ground movement creating damage to property and even risk to life.

The problem was extensive affecting the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Arup’s detailed analysis of the problem, the categorisation of risk and subsequent development of innovative solutions transformed the outlook for this deprived area of the West Midlands, helping to secure its economic future for the local community.

An innovative £1.3 million project to reduce the flooding affecting numerous properties on Linnet Rise, Kidderminster has recently been successfully completed and works by attenuating the flows that surcharge out of the under capacity surface water network during times of heavy rainfall.

The complex solution is designed to safely store 845m3 of flood waters in underground geocellular tanks that had to be constructed within a densely populated urban environment requiring innovative temporary works. The stringent hydraulics and careful design of the scheme ensures minimal future maintenance and operates entirely without a single moving part. The geocellular crate system was developed in close collaboration between NMCNomenca and the STW solution team and is the first of its kind to be fully adopted by Severn Trent Water.

Maintaining a tramway along a busy city A-road is complex. Considerable expertise, products and services are needed. Furthermore, there are the tram users, businesses, residents and road users who need to be informed and kept up-to-date.

In addition to completing the project ahead of schedule and within budget, there were two additional areas where this project really stands out:

Firstly, we wanted to ensure that a large percentage of the supplies used on the programme would be sourced within the West Midlands.

Secondly, we wanted to recruit local talent to our worksite to ensure the workforce in the region truly benefited from our first construction project in the West Midlands.

The construction project completed ahead of schedule and within budget on 2 December 2017 when Bilston Road re-opened in both directions to traffic. Testing and commissioning followed and trams service resumed on 8 December, again ahead of schedule.

The aim of the project was to provide the gateway access to the new Branston Locks Development to the south west of Burton-upon-Trent which will see 400 acres of land immediately west of the A38 developed. This will include 2,500 homes, 50-acre employment site, primary school, secondary school, hotel, residential care home, additional sports and recreational facilities and other community facilities. The first phase of the project provided the following;

New Canal Bridge: to provide a new road, pedestrian and cycleway crossing over the Trent and Mersey Canal conservation zone.

New pedestrian / cycle approach ramp link: to provide access from the existing village and canal towpath to the new highway bridge and road.

New Highway: approximately 750m of new highway comprising two roundabouts, carriageway, footways / cycleways, embankments, drainage, safety barriers, fencing, street lighting and signage.

New statutory undertakers equipment, (gas, electric etc.): to serve the Branston Locks development.

Engineers for Overseas Development (EfOD) is a charity committed to using their skills to transform communities, providing engineers with invaluable experience and skills in the process. The West Midlands branch have played an invaluable part in transforming a community in rural Uganda.

The Koutulai Project has delivered a number of critical pieces of social infrastructure to secure the future of this community in rural Eastern Uganda. This project which was designed and managed by young engineers in the West Midlands was undertaken between 2009 and 2017.

The Koutulai Project is an example of a long-running collaboration that has seen benefits for all involved. The villagers of Koutulai and surrounding area can access clean water and sanitation as well as store and process food. They have also learnt construction and agricultural skills and seen the advantages of working together to create a legacy for the whole community. Over 50 young volunteers from the West Midlands have gained valuable experience early in their career to fast track their development and improve their confidence, helping them to appreciate their true ability and the difference Engineers are able to make in society. The volunteers have proudly represented the UK civil engineering industry in a developing region, demonstrating its core values of professionalism and fairness.

Christian is an individual with great passion for education, continuous professional development and knowledge transfer. His work across the West Midlands and overseas has helped to advance the engineering profession through innovative research, establishing academia-industry collaboration platforms both at home and abroad and mentoring young engineers and students.

At 33, he has already been admitted to Fellowship with the Institution of Civil Engineers (the youngest in the U.K. in its history) and he is also a Supervising Civil Engineer (SCE), a Reviewer and guest speaker at Loughborough and Birmingham Universities.

His research has challenged empirical knowledge and his Doctorate alone yielded 18 publications, a record for the University. He has since been an advisor to researchers on how to unlock the impact potential of publications.

The town of Rugeley has been at risk from both fluvial and surface water flooding. All development schemes within the town were limited due to the flooding situation. The Environment Agency identified the potential to reduce the fluvial flood risk to the town through the completion of a flood storage reservoir on Rising Brook.

The reservoir can hold up to 73,500 m3 of flood water, protecting Rugeley town centre from flood risk, thereby facilitating regeneration of Rugeley town centre. The construction of the reservoir is substantially complete and job creating planning applications have been taken forward on the basis of the scheme.

Partnership working has enabled the project to deliver a white-clawed crayfish ark site, going above and beyond the environmental mitigation requirements to protect this endangered native species.

Further community enhancements include restoring a heritage trail bridge, providing space for additional sports pitches and supporting the local community centre.

On 24 May 2016, the Grade II Listed Masonry Arch Eastham Bridge over the SSSI River Teme in Worcestershire suddenly collapsed while a school bus was starting crossing.

The resultant closure imposed a 10 mile detour through narrow country lanes and split the community of Eastham from the A438 and the local school.

Alun Griffiths Contractors Ltd, Infrastructure Engineering Term Contractor for Worcestershire County Council, together with their design engineers, Burroughs, were able to successfully deliver a ‘Design and Build’ replacement bridge, in only 11 months.

The innovative and sympathetic design of the new bridge, faced in bricks recovered from the collapse, spanning over the remains of the original with movement allowance lets the old and new structures co-exist.

The scheme balanced demanding challenges, within tight ecological, time and budgetary constraints. Achieving this was only possible because of a deep rooted collaborative work ethic within the whole team and community.

The inaugural ICE West Midlands Volunteer Award was awarded to the late Bob Dunn CEng FICE.

Bob actively supported graduates and trainees to achieve professional qualifications for more than 25 years. There are many professional civil engineers out there who owe a debt to Bob for his inspiration and encouragement that helped them to achieve their aspirations.

Bob’s partner Jane, and his daughters, Clare and Sarah collected the Award.