The Tees Estuary is one of the most heavily modified and developed estuaries in the UK, with less than 10% of the original intertidal habitats remaining. From 1740, large areas of saltmarsh have been enclosed to form freshwater grazing marsh. However, it has been the industrialisation and systematic land take between 1830 and 1970s that has resulted in the majority of the habitat loss and a legacy of flood risk.
Among the three pillars of sustainability, it has historically been environmental sustainability that has hidden in the shadows in comparison to economic sustainability at the estuary – the key driver. However, as the impact of climate change continues to demonstrate its destructiveness, it is critical that the mindset of engineers is focused on being more nature positive.
Tees Tidelands is an Environment Agency estuary wide programme, including multiple projects, with aims of opening up the tributaries to tidal influence to enable fish passage, re-establish parts of the natural estuary and permit inland migration of the estuary. All whilst maintaining and improving flood resilience through nature-based solutions.
This presentation will give an overview of Tees Tidelands, launched in March 2022, and how a vision was created, identifying the programmes key drivers and the benefits that it could bring. It will then give a focus on the programme’s flagship project, the Greatham North East Flood Alleviation Scheme, outlining some of the challenges to project delivery and how the project team continue to overcome these.
Overall, the session is set to explore topics such as biodiversity net gain, natural flood management and promote sustainable thinking on civil engineering projects, setting a president for putting the environment first.
