This snapshot taken on 07/01/2011, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.
The town of Gainsborough lies low on the east bank of the River Trent and so vulnerable to flooding, particularly when the spring tides coincide with high river levels.
Its existing flood relief scheme was made up of nearly 4km of sheet pile walls, mass gravity walls and earth embankments. Many of these walls and their foundations needed urgent replacement to prevent collapse.
An initial assessment suggested the need for entirely new defences, but the project team came up with a solution based on upgrading the existing ones. The work included three major forms of strengthening: plastic sheet piling in an earth embankment to form cut-off walls and improve stability; steel sheet piling in front of a failed existing wall; and the installation of ground anchors drilled into existing walls and attached to bedrock deep below Gainsborough.
The project team set up for this work demonstrated the benefit of different parties challenging each other to come up with creative and cost-effective technical solutions. Gainsborough’s risk of flooding has now been dramatically reduced.
"Socially useful and highly competent."