CIWEM
Membership organisation to thousands of members and organisations in over 89 countries with a dedication to improving water and environmental management.
- Date
- 16 September 2021
- Time
This event has now ended
Overview
When four legacy-mining dams in Snowdonia were found in urgent need of repair, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) had a legal duty to make them safe or suffer enforcement action. Reservoir failure posed a risk to life or serious injury for people downstream, with criminal, civil and reputational consequences for NRW.
The Gwydir Reservoirs’ scale and location required an innovative approach; employing restorative, environmentally sensitive engineering to upgrade 150-year-old embankments offering flood attenuation whilst constructing new spillways to control flows and reduce risk to life downstream.
NRW anticipated challenges working across remote sites, in one of the highest and wettest areas in Wales, with difficult ground conditions and undocumented mine workings. NRW couldn’t predict a main contractor financial collapse and later Covid19 pandemic, which left NRW facing an unprecedented battle to meet strict regulator deadlines.
The presenters will share their experience on the multi-site project, reflecting on the legislative requirements, the works carried out on the water-retaining structures and how NRW achieved high quality and safety standards during construction whilst temporarily placing the reservoirs at the greatest risk of failure. It shall conclude on how such lessons have fed into NRW’s wider reservoir portfolio and the ongoing work to maintain excellence and combat the challenges in the 21st century.
This event is co-badged with the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and with the British Dam Society (BDS).
Organised with
British Dam Society
The BDS covers the technical aspects of dams and reservoirs, including planning, design, construction, maintenance, safety, and environmental impact.
Speakers
Andrew Basford
Natural Resources Wales/Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru
civil engineering project manager
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Andrew Basford
Andrew is a civil engineering project manager working for Natural Resources Wales.
Andrew is an incorporated engineer with over 12 years’ experience in the water engineering industry. Responsible for the delivery of the Llyn Tegid project, Andrew leads the ongoing engagement with stakeholders and is focused on certification of the works by qualified civil engineer, Dr Andy Hughes appointed under the Reservoirs Act. Andrew has worked on reservoir engineering projects since 2017.
Matthew Coombs
Binnies
dams and reservoirs director
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Matthew Coombs
Matt is dams and reservoirs director at Binnies and a reservoir supervising engineer. He has over 30 years experience in the industry, and was seconded to NRW for over five years from 2015-2021, where he was responsible for reservoir compliance, this was during the enactment of the >10,000m3 requirement for reservoir registration.
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