More technical experts for Canal & River Trust

THERE have been more appointments for Canal & River Trust as technical experts.

It has appointed Arcadis, RSK and Geotechnical Engineering to provide technical expertise on maintaining its assets amidst, it tells, the 'growing challenge of climate change-driven storms and floods'.

Long term contracts

These are long-term contracts allowing it to call upon these companies to help it look after the network’s reservoirs, embankments, cuttings and other structures.

It has also appointed Arcadis Consulting, Pell Frischmann Consultants and Stantec UK to provide services around technical engineering and design, to help it plan works required to keep the canals open and safe.

The agreements are for a period of up to eight years, with an initial term of four years.

Ground investigations

The first priority for the appointees is to carry out a programme of ground investigations to establish the integrity of the trust’s structures, as many are over 200 years old.

The trust's Chief Infrastructure and Programmes Officer, Malcolm Horne explained:

“The UK’s canal network is a fantastic example of long-lasting civil engineering; living heritage which is still in active use today.

“This 250 years old network is also facing the impact of a challenging, changing climate, with the multiple storms in the past few months alone causing millions of pounds of damage.

“To keep our canals safe and available for years to come, we must make sure our historic structures are sound, and that we’re planning our works with the best possible knowledge, both from our in-house expertise and drawing on the latest advances from other industries.”

Arcadis pointed out the new contract builds on the services it has been providing to the trust since 2011. It working with water management specialists Binnies, who will complement its services by providing specialist reservoir support.