Rivers & Water Courses Archives

Erosion protection on the River Leith, Thrimby, Network Rail

Network Rail had identified an erosion and scour risk at the toe and embankment of one of their assets on the River Leith, near Thrimby, Cumbria.

Restoring Saltmarsh Habitats to Prevent Erosion

Salix’s natural bioengineering solutions, native plants & brushwood fascines, are used to prevent further erosion at West Thurrock

Aerial view of the works showing scale of the 800t mobile crane

AquaRockBags for Emergency and Temporary Work

Following a storm event in February 2022, a 20-metre section of flood wall in the Derbyshire town of Matlock collapsed.

Jackson Civil Engineering,

River Stour Embankment Restoration

Soft engineering solutions presented by Salix, such as Coir Rolls, Rock Rolls and shear stress turf, represent a major cost saving over traditional hard revetments

Natural sediment accretion and vegetation colonisation after 5 months

River Towy, Bank Erosion, Carmarthen

Aqua Rock Bags were installed at the eroded toe of the failing riverbank after it had eroded the bank and caused the footpath to collapse into the River Towy in the centre of Carmarthen.

River Elwy, Pipeline Protection, North Wales

A live crib wall of willow were used to protect a high pressure gas pipe that had become exposed due to significant river bed scour and bank erosion on a section of the Afon Elwy near St Asaph.

Re-naturalisation of the Broadwater Brook

Salix worked with the Sompting Estate, and the Ouse and Adur River Trust to re-naturalise a watercourse, constructing a kilometre of new channel for the Broadwater Brook.

Repaired-river-bank-10-months-on-Bramford

Erosion protection on the River Gripping

Salix supplied AquaRock Bags to provide an environmentally sensitive solution yet robust solution to protect the toe of the embankment from further slips and limit the potential for further erosion.

Restoring the River Beane, a Chalk Stream

Salix enabled the restoration of wetlands and chalk stream habitat whilst bypassing a weir which was a listed heritage feature

Channel 1 year after restoration, note the reduction in channel width and diverse marginal and riparian vegetation

Restoring the River Mimram, Tewin

Salix were commissioned to restore part of the river Mimram whilst protecting the local population of water voles and increasing the biodiversity

Re-naturalising River Nairn

Salix worked on the River Nairn in an award winning project to renaturalise the river, allowing it to meander again and restoring river processes.

River Quaggy: Lewisham

Salix provided Coir Rolls and Coir Pallets to provide instant vegetation and habitat on the deculverted River Quaggy.

2T AquaRockbags 18 months post installation

Scour Prevented by AquaRockBags

AquaRockBags® were installed by the local council highways team to prevent a road subsiding due to scour and erosion caused by the adjacent watercourse.

AquaRockBags going in river bank restoration works

Yearl Weir

As an ecologically sensitive site the use of traditional hard engineered bank protection was not an option and Salix’s bioengineered designs were favoured.

Exeter FAS prior to Rock Mattress Installation

High Energy Inter Tidal Solution on the River Exe

Salix’s Ready-filled Rock Mattresses provided a solution to flood protection works needed on the River Exe. This quick and cheap approach provided a stable, natural embankment on the high energy intertidal river.

Royal Wharf intertidal reed bed solution - 2 years after installation

Intertidal Planting Solution on River Thames

Creating a reed bed on an intertidal part of the Thames river is challenging – but Salix achieved a fantastic result as a consequence of their unique design approach.

Flooding and erosion prevention in Sheffield

When a flashy stream was unearthed in Sheffield Salix were brought in as specialist experts in erosion management by the Wild Trout Trust. The Porter Brook was subject to regular flooding, if it rained on the Peaks then the city centre would flood.

Protecting a Pipeline in Carmarthen

We installed erosion protection products like our Coir Rolls and Rock Rolls at this site where a pipeline was exposed in the river bed

Erosion Control at Laurel Farm, a Network Rail Site

Scour protection provided by Rock Mattresses at a Network Rail site where the river had undercut the river bank, endangering the embankment above.

Well established pre-planted Coir Rolls after a significant flood event

River Bank Erosion Management at Wisley Golf Course

Extreme river bank erosion rectified by regrading the river bank and using Coir Rolls and Coir Pallets, preventing erosion naturally

Flood Alleviation at Tregaron

The aim of the project was to protect around 100 houses and businesses that had been subjected to increased flood threats. Constant flooding was a problem with this very flashy river where it passes through the town.

River Washford Roadwater Erosion Protection

The increasing frequency of flood events on the River Washford required the existing system to be replaced and improved.

Spider Menzi Muck Excavator moving large woody debris below Swinsty Reservoir

River Washburn Restoration

Salix were approached as river restoration experts and because of the innovative Menzi Muck Spider machine which is capable of climbing in and out of a river causing little disturbance.

Cwmparc River Restoration

Salix worked with Natural Resources Wales at Cwmparc in the Rhondda Valley to renaturalise the water courses in order to reduce flood risk and increase biodiversity.

River Dulais, Rhosmaen Llandeilo

Salix’s River Dulais project demonstrating the use of large woody debris (LWD) is now ten years old and has been is included in the manual of River Restoration Techniques.

Babingley river restoration work using woody debris

Naturalising Norfolk’s Chalk Rivers

Salix has helped the Norfolk Rivers Trust to improve wildlife habitats on the chalk River Babingley, Hillington Estate near Flitcham, and River Nar at Pentney, near Kings Lynn.

One Year Later. Note the Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea)

Darwen Bank Stabilisation

A 120 metre reach of river had been subject to ongoing bank instability issues. A gas pipeline set in the bank was dangerously close to being exposed and bank revetment options were considered.

River Rhiw Bank Protection

Salix were awarded the contract and began works to carry out 300 metres of riverbank protection to protect this existing exposed high pressure gas pipe in March 2013.

Foss Dyke Bank Stabilisation

A rise in pleasure boating on the Foss resulted in severe boat wash. Monitoring revealed that the rate of bank erosion was up to 2.5 metres in a year over a 2km stretch.

Afon Gwydol Embankment

Works were required to repair an eroding railway embankment adjacent to the river. This resulted in the embankment encroaching into the river, causing erosion problems on the opposite bank belonging to a local farmer.

Pembroke Commons

1 km of new and existing channel was enhanced using bioengineering techniques as part of a flood protection project in the centre of historic Pembroke in West Wales.

River Pinn Enhancement

Salix designed and constructed a stream enhancement project at a gas pipeline river crossing as ecological mitigation to a degraded reach of stream as part of a major pipeline project.

River Thaw Enhancement

Salix were asked by Environment Agency Wales to advise on methods to restore a 100 metre reach of the River Thaw which had been subject to physical degradation by overgrazing and cattle poaching.

River Ebbw Bank Stabilisation

Salix worked with consulting geotechnical engineers to provide design and build proposals to stabilise over 800 metres of steep riverbank composed of highly erodible colliery shale.

Fully Established Bioengineering Solution Replacing Gabion Design

River Gwenfro

A private developer had back gardens adjacent to a river that when in flood created severe scour issues. Initial river modelling indicated flow velocities in excess of 3.5m/sec.

River Pipeline Crossing

Salix were invited to submit a bioengineering solution to solve an erosion issue at a pipeline crossing in West Wales. The solution used a combination of locally harvested willow and Rock Rolls to provide a stable revetment in this cobble bed river.

Vegetation Establishment 18 Months Later

River Roding Bank Protection

Salix advised engineers Halcrow on bioengineering methods to stabilise a regraded slope as part of an inter-tidal river enhancement project. The existing vertical retaining wall provided no habitat value.

Training day on intertidal restoration work

River Roding Enhancement

The River Roding is an inter-tidal river and these works were undertaken 100m upstream of the Barking Barrier, Greater London. The works were part of an Environment Agency environmental enhancement project with both flood defence and nature conservation in mind.

Treboeth Cobble Channel

A new development had slope stability issues due to an adjacent cobble bed watercourse badly eroding the soils and downcutting the bed within the channel.

Soham Lode Re-visited

An important water vole site at Soham Lode required emergency re-lining of the perched section of the reach (approximately 600m) Following the emergency works, Salix were awarded a Design & Build contract on a competitive bid process…

River Tywi

Salix were awarded a design and build contract to prevent further erosion of a section of the riverbank and reinstate a scour hole threatening a high pressure gas pipeline on the River Tywi.

Before work commenced railway line Lewes

Railway Lane, Lewes

The integrity of the existing blockwork facing was deteriorating as a result of the tidal inundation and draw-down cycles together with areas of groundwater seepages emanating from the slope profile.

River Teme Restoration

The River Teme is a sensitive SSSI and SAC river and over 150 metres of severe bank erosion was threatening a National Grid pipeline.

Category: Rivers & Water Courses

Work on rivers and water courses