Specialist dam secures housing project

The development is on the site of a redundant cider factory in the village of Norton Fitzwarren, a community that has experienced regular flooding, The project is indicative of the pressures to build new homes in the UK that are increasingly forcing developers to invest in land parcels located on flood plains.
 
As the dam has a capacity to store up to 0.75 million cubic metres, it has to comply with the 1975 Reservoirs Act and Hyder managed its sign off by a Panel Engineer. The project team also had to balance the interests of a wide group of stakeholders comprising Barratts, the lead developer who is funding the project, land owners, the local authority (Taunton Deane Borough council) and the Environment Agency which will ultimately take over ownership of the dam.
 
Environmental considerations were a key feature of the design throughout, not least ensuring that all earthworks materials were sourced from the site. The resulting borrow pit has been retained as a permanent wetland feature. The project has received a designers “Excellent” CEEQUAL environmental award.