Tag Archives: bioengineering
Salix are now a supplier of fully biodegradable, coir cased coir rolls
Salix have developed a Coir Roll which is fully biodegradable, providing effective erosion control without the use of plastic nets.
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.
AquaRockBag launch
Salix’s AquaRockBag is an ecologically sensitive method of erosion control. Working with natural processes to provide erosion control & habitat biodiversity
Estuary Edges
Salix co-authored in the first volume of Estuary Edges, having been involved in a significant number of projects within the tidal extent of the River Thames.
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…
Our Rock Products are the (Jack’s) Key to Preventing Erosion
Jack’s Keys needed a rapid response to scour and erosion problems. Our pre-filled Rock Mattresses and Rock Rolls were the answer, our Menzi Muck Spider machine was able to climb…
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.
Flashy Floods in Car Park Solved
Rock Rolls and pre-planted Coir Rolls & Pallets were used to prevent erosion whilst creating a lovely habitat in Sheffield City centre where a culverted stream had been flash flooding
Erosion Control Aqualog
Aqualogs are a durable fibre log made from waste material destined for landfill. They are effective revetments used in erosion management and they also happen to improve water quality
Rail River Rock
Rock Rolls and VMax C350 provide ecological erosion control at Yeovil Junction, protecting the railway from undercutting by the River Yoe
Bringing Biodiversity to Hydro Plant in Pershore
VMax C350 & Eronet are used on this hydro project to protect the inlet channel and surrounding soils from erosion, working with nature for natural solutions
The Avenue, Erosion Control & Habitat Creation Within SuDS on Old Contaminated Land
Salix have been appointed as specialist contractors to deal with the erosion control and habitat creation within a SuDS for a mix of housing and business parks at The Avenue
Naturalising a Stream at Bedlinog
Constant flooding and erosion had been causing some serious problems for Merthyr Tydfil Council who manage an old reclaimed tip site, close to the village of Bedlinog in the Taff…
Conwy Spillway Success
In 2009 Team Van Oord installed 9000m2 of Salix’s VMax Shear Stress Turf as part of the Conwy Flood Alleviation Scheme, seven years and many major overtopping events on and…
River Washford Roadwater Erosion Protection
The increasing frequency of flood events on the River Washford required the existing system to be replaced and improved.
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.
Coir Rolls Aid Biodiversity Boom
Our Coir Rolls are superb at erosion control and they are also brilliant for wildlife. Wildlife such as Water Voles benefit enormously from the immediate cover that the mature plants…
Silent Valley Erosion Control
HydraCX™ was applied to 125,000m2 of poor, erosion prone soil at a large landfill site in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. HydraCX is a hydraulically applied erosion control product that protects…
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.
Water works at Walthamstow Wetlands
Walthamstow Wetlands by Stephen Ayers The latest stage of the transformation of Walthamstow Wetlands into the largest wetland nature reserve in London will see the creation of new reedbeds to…
Green Swales on Roadside
Soft engineered ‘Green Swale Grass Channel’ attenuates road run-off water, filters suspended solids, and traps hydro carbons and heavy metals, significantly improving water quality.
Bridging the Ecological and Engineering Gap
Bridging the ecological and engineering gap with our effective bio-engineering solutions
Turf Reinforcement Erosion Mats in CIWEM
Our Technical Director, David Holland, has been in the most recent edition of CIWEM’sThe Environment Magazine talking about the value of our 3D reinforced turf mats in erosion control. We…
Woodberry Wetlands
Desilting a large reservoir in the heart of London and creating a new wetland habitat. Dredging silts enabled us to create 13,000 square metres of new reed bed
The Spider on the River Washburn
Innovative spider machine helps restore wildlife habitats on the River Washburn. Yorkshire Water’s trial works to improve the quality of the river environment downstream of Swinsty reservoir is now well…
Rock Rolls – Effective Erosion Control
Rock Rolls offer flexibility and the fact they arrive on site pre-filled with stone greatly reduces installation time and therefore cost, compared to in-situ filled gabions. Rock rolls and mattresses can…
Erosion Control on Loch Garry Spillway
Erosion control using Tensar VMax P550 on Loch Garry spillway and embankments
Erosion Control on Loch Garry Spillway
Tensar VMax P550 is designed for use as erosion control on steep slopes, high-flow channels, spillways, and shorelines.
Slowing the flow at Cwmparc
Cwmparc with the spider in action With funding from the Welsh Government’s Nature Fund, we supported Rhondda Cynon Taf Council in taking steps to naturalise one of the concrete channels…
Woodberry in the Guardian
Wildlife gardening on a colossal scale, The Guardian admires our Woodberry Wetlands work. Desilting large areas of the old reservoirs to create new reedbeds.
Restoring East Tullos Burn
East Tullos Burn project transformed a waterway from a straight, hard-engineered channel, into a natural stream, functional floodplain and wetland habitat.
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.
Silent Valley Landfill
HydraCX has been applied to a landfill site in Ebbw Vale. The liner system isolates the landfill contents from the environment therefore protecting the soil and ground water from pollution.
Wetland Creation for New Wildlife Reserve
We have started pump dredging/desilting at Woodberry Wetlands in East London, creating new reed beds and islands. Our desilting work uses an amphibious machine…
Salix helps naturalise the chalk River Nar
Working with the Norfolk Rivers Trust and cbec, Salix has just completed a project to help to improve wildlife habitats on a section of the chalk River Nar in west…
Sandwich Flood Alleviation and Spillway Scheme
The £21.7 million flood defence scheme involved works on 16 individual reaches of the river and it reduced the risk of tidal flooding to 488 homes and 94 commercial properties…
Scour Protection at Lhanbryde Spillway
Following the 2005 £2million Lhanbryde Flood Alleviation Scheme, near Elgin in Moray, in Summer 2014, Salix worked with Royal HaskoningDHV engineers to improve erosion control on the dam’s spillway. After…
Salix installs new green channel to reduce A11 pollution
Salix has installed a revolutionary green drainage channel along an 18km stretch of the A11 in Norfolk, between Fiveways and Thetford.
Salix to showcase innovative phosphorus removal techniques
Phosphorus is one of the most common parameters causing a watercourse to fail water quality standards set out under the Water Framework Directive.
Keeping up with the coir
Salix’s Technical Director David Holland visited Sri Lanka over Christmas with his family to see how coir fibre production is shaping up.
CIWEM’s Winter Conference
Salix is sponsoring CIWEM’s one-day Winter Conference, to be held at the Brunei Gallery in Russell Square, London on 29 January 2015.
Salix in CIWEM magazine
We were very fortunate to appear in this month’s CIWEM The Environment Magazine with regards to our work on the Olympic Park Wetlands – the largest ever bioengineering project undertaken…
Soft bank protection for Getty Estate’s new lake island pavilion
Working with Mace, Salix has helped the Wormsley Estate to construct a stunning new island pavilion on its lake. Sir Paul Getty began restoring the 2,500-acre Wormsley Estate in the…
Lake Desilting & Environment Improved at Ifield Mill Pond
Salix is working with Crawley Borough Council and Jacksons Civil Engineering to help improve Ifield Mill Pond & Water Gardens, the area’s most important wetland and a designated Site of…
Salix Rock Rolls Protect Titchwell Marsh
As part of a series of measures to protect the freshwater habitats at Titchwell Marsh Nature Reserve on the north Norfolk coast, Salix has supplied the Royal Society for the…
Lake Desilting & Biodiversity Improvements at Midhurst’s South Pond
The South Downs National Park Authority has commissioned Salix to help create a wildlife haven on the South Pond, at the edge of Midhurst town centre in West Sussex. The…
New wetland habitats at East Tullos Burn
Salix has worked with Aberdeen City Council, cbec and Walking-the-Talk to restore the East Tullos Burn in St Fittick’s Park, Torry, transforming it from a straight, hard-engineered channel into a…
Salix is now Europe’s largest producer of coir fibre rolls
Working directly with ethical, organic and sustainable suppliers in Sri Lanka, each year Salix imports hundreds of tonnes of compressed coir fibres and turns them into Coir Rolls and Pallets…
CocoNet 800
CocoNet is a strong hand woven biodegradable net made to our unique specification under licence in Sri Lanka. The hand woven net increases surface cover and surface roughness…
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…
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.
Olympic Park Wetlands
Salix were involved in making the Olympic Park a reality, when we were awarded the prestigious Tier 2 Contract in 2009 to grow all the wetland and wet wildflower plants…
Floating Island Benefits Wildlife
As part of a programme of wildlife habitat improvements in the Royal Parks, a large floating wetland island has been built on the Serpentine Lake in London’s Hyde Park.
M25 Road Widening
Salix were tasked with greening up a 45 degree slope consisting of 6F2 fill. The initial design was a covering of 150mm of topsoil over an area of about 8,000m2…
Kingsbury Tamworth Rail Line
Salix applied HydraCX in September 2009 to slopes consisting of 6I/J fill material with no imported topsoil covering the surface. The project was monitored each year to see how the…
Native Wetland Plants
Salix grow a diverse range of native wetland and wildflower plant species from nurseries in South Wales and Norfolk. We are the largest grower of native wetland plants in the…
Coir Pallets
Salix produce a wide range of pre-established coir pallets planted with high quality native plant species. Coir pallets are composed from coir fibre which is a sustainable waste product from…
Coir Rolls
Coir Rolls are an organic living revetment that provide erosion control and rapid vegetation establishment. Salix have developed a range of specific species mixes for use in all types of…
Bionet C125BN
Bionet biodegradable erosion control blankets are designed to provide immediate erosion protection and vegetation establishment assistance, then degrade after the root and stem systems of the vegetation are mature enough…
HydraCX™
HydraCX is a hydraulically applied erosion control product that protects slopes against soil and seed loss from heavy rain and wind from day one of application. It is 100% natural,…
Eronet C125
Tensar Eronet C125 Photodegradable Double Net Coconut Erosion Control Blanket (ECB) is constructed of 100% coconut fibre stitched with UV stabilized polypropylene thread between heavyweight UV stabilized polypropylene top and…
VMax³ Shear Stress Turf
Salix have the facilities to contract grow turf using the VMax range of Turf Reinforcement Mats (TRMs). VMax C350 or P550 is used as the reinforcement element within the turf giving…
VMax³ P550
VMax³ P550 is composed of a permanent, ultra-high-strength, three-dimensional matting structure incorporated with a permanent 100% polypropylene fibre matrix.
VMax³ C350
VMax³ C350 Permanent Turf Reinforcement Mat is a high-strength, three-dimensional matting structure, incorporated with a 100% coconut-fibre matrix that supplements the permanent matting structure’s grass germination and erosion control capabilities…
Sandwich Flood Alleviation Scheme
The £21.7 million flood defence scheme involves works on 16 individual reaches of the River Stour and will reduce the risk of tidal flooding to 488 homes and 94 commercial…
Balfour Beatty endorse Salix’s erosion control solutions
We are delighted to report that Balfour Beatty have included our Eronet C125 and VMax C350 erosion control solutions and our Rock Mattresses in their Innovation Sheets. Rock Mattress installation…
Royal Parks, Serpentine Lake
BioHaven Floating Islands on the Serpentine As part of a programme of wildlife habitat improvements in the Royal Parks, Salix have been awarded a contract to create large floating wetland…
Roadwater Erosion Protection
The River Washford runs through the village of Roadwater near Minehead, Somerset. The catchment creates a flashy river which floods parts of the village in large flood events. The increasing…
Medmerry Realignment Scheme
The above image is Copyright of The Environment Agency 2013. Medmerry is one of the stretches of coastline most at risk of flooding in southern England. The overall scheme involves…
BioHaven Innovation
Wetlands are an incredibly valuable environment, both to nature and wider society; BioHaven can offer all of the ecosystem services of a healthy functioning wetland but can be placed in…
10th Anniversary River Dulais Project
Live Willow Root Wad Installation Tenth Anniversary of Salix’s Project on The River Dulais, Rhosmaen, Llandeilo. Salix’s River Dulais project demonstrating the use of large woody debris (LWD) is now…
Rock’n’Roll!
Rock Rolls are a robust, flexible and permanent revetment for use around reservoirs, shorelines, lake edges, streams and river banks. They are environmentally sensitive, cost-effective revetments that are suitable alternatives…
Salix appointed Sole UK Distributor for VMax Soil Erosion Range
Salix are pleased to announce that We have been appointed as the sole distributors of the VMax® range of soil erosion control products formerly known as North American Green. Salix…
Tough Test on The Teme
The River Teme is a sensitive SSSI and SAC river and over 150 metres of severe bank erosion was threatening a National Grid pipeline. Salix were the lead Design and…
Under The Boardwalk
Richmond Royal Parks is a walkover for Salix and Sir David Attenborough’s Volunteers. In our last newsletter and in the piece On Her Majesty’s Service we featured the start of…
Better Banks!
The Environment Agency are responsible for the river bank stability at Railway Lane, Lewes and recognising the integrity of the existing blockwork facing was deteriorating began to look into solutions…
Olympic Odyssey for Salix
Olympic Park Wetland 2012 We are delighted to finally unveil our role in making the Olympic Park a reality, from our initial involvement way back in 2008, right through to…
On Her Majesty’s Service…
Work has commenced at one of our most prestigious locations to date – The Royal Parks. We have been appointed as a result of being able to demonstrate our experience in…
Wilderness Lake
The Wilderness Lake is an important coarse fishery and recreational resource on the edge of Porthcawl in South Wales. It also functions as a flood storage area for the surrounding…
Gloucester Business Park
A new warehouse complex required a large balancing pond to take surface runoff water. The pond had steep sides which required some form of ground stabilisation.
Cwmbran Boating Lake
The boating lake was a popular local attraction and fishing lake. The lake edges were in bad repair with little or no marginal vegetation. Floating islands were also required to…
Longham Lakes
Working for Bournemouth & West Hants Water, Salix were appointed as Main Contractor to undertake 2km of bioengineering works to stabilise the shoreline of a new reservoir.
Ramsden Bellhouse
A series of potentially dangerous deep seated failures on a railway embankment required treatment to prevent further slips. The geotechnical issues of ground stability were resolved using soil nailing.
Chipping Campden Rail
HydraCX was sprayed onto 5,500m2 of re graded rail embankments to prevent erosion and establish vegetation rapidly without importing expensive topsoil. HydraCX also replaces erosion control geotextiles.
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…
Pewsey Rail Embankment
A rail embankment had slipped and was reinstated with soil nails providing geotechnical stability. Birse created working platforms with imported stone and then used a soil cell system to retain…
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…
Papworth Reedbeds
After a competitive bid process, Salix designed and built a tertiary treatment reedbed for Anglian Water at their Papworth STW. Salix partnered with Pete Worrall of Penny Anderson Associates and…
Salwarpe Reedbed
As part of a new large reedbed creation project Salix contract grew and planted out 125,000 reed plants grown from local provenance seed stock. Seed was hand collected and processed…
Twycross Zoo Wetlands
As Principle contractor, Salix constructed a 3 hectare wetland system to provide waste water treatment and habitat creation. 18 integrated ponds, wet grassland, reedbeds and ditches were constructed for Twycross…
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…
Conwy Flood Alleviation and Spillway Scheme
Salix supplied 9000m2 of VMax3 Shear stress turf in September 2009. Just 2 months later the area experienced the worst flooding in 25 years of recording with floods exceeding the…
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.
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…
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.