A major engineering project which protects thousands of Morpeth residents from flooding has scooped a prestigious national award.
The Morpeth Flood Alleviation Scheme was named Project of the Year in this year’s ‘Constructing Excellence Awards’ which recognize the very best companies, collaborations and projects, sharing best practice and inspiring others to adopt new and better ways of working that deliver outstanding results.
The £26 million scheme, which opened last year, includes upstream storage and urban flood defenses and is thought to have prevented hundreds of properties from flooding last winter when the dam operated for the first time.
It is the first time a major scheme to reduce the risk of flooding to homes and businesses has been jointly funded and delivered by the Environment Agency and a local council in the region.
The scheme – the largest flood protection project in the north east – included £12 million funding from Northumberland County Council.
The flood scheme is designed to reduce the risk of flooding to 1,000 homes and businesses in Morpeth. It’s an innovative scheme which combines in town defenses with an upstream storage area which has capacity to store 1.4 million cubic meters of water.
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