Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive Officer, was among a delegation of senior managers from the Environment Agency who paid a visit to the site where Team Van Oord has started work on a scheme to provide better protection from flooding for the residents of Shoreham-by-Sea.
The party was there to witness a training exercise taking place at Environment Agency sites across the country, including Shoreham.
Environment Agency teams are training with new temporary flood barriers, pumps, vehicles, and drones as part of Exercise Certus, which reached its climax on Wednesday 12 October.
The exercise, which involved around 1,000 staff, was designed to ensure that the Environment Agency is ready to respond to future flooding following the Government’s National Flood Resilience Review (NFRR).
At Shoreham-by-Sea there was a series of ‘live’ exercises involving the site team in testing new equipment, and responding to simulated flooding scenarios.
The Shoreham Adur Tidal Walls Scheme
The town of Shoreham-by-Sea is vulnerable to tidal flooding from the River Adur.
The risk of flooding will increase over time as climate change leads to sea level rise.
Under the Shoreham Adur Tidal Walls Scheme, improvements are being carried out along 7.2km of defenses along the River Adur between Shoreham Old Fort and the A27.
The scheme is separated into 10 reaches, or lengths of the estuarine bank. The design of the flood defenses varies between the reaches as they have different characteristics and are subject to different pressures and potential flood impacts.
Work got underway in the second half of 2016, with completion expected in 2018.
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