Northey Island Habitat Creation wins Regional Award

The annual Constructing Excellence Awards are a celebration of everything the UK’s Built Environment has to be proud of. Winner for the East of England region, the Northey Island Habitat Creation Project, used innovative techniques to deliver a lasting positive impact on biodiversity and climate change resilience. 

Owners the National Trust initiated the work to protect and regenerate the saltmarsh that surrounds Northey Island in Essex, UK. Recognised nationally and internationally as an important area for nature conservation, the saltmarsh was threatened by coastal erosion and rising sea levels. 

As part of the project team, Royal HaskoningDHV was appointed to create the detailed design for the work which used dredged sediment and a technique known as “managed realignment”. This was designed to raise and regenerate existing saltmarsh, adapt local tidal processes to reduce erosion and allow saltmarsh plants to migrate further inland to improve biodiversity.

Royal HaskoningDHV’s Technical Director, Nick Cooper, said: “This prestigious industry award is well-deserved recognition for the team involved in designing and delivering this exceptional scheme, creating new saltmarsh and freshwater habitat at this popular nature reserve. It has been a pleasure being part of this collaborative and cooperative team, assisting the National Trust in delivering its vision for the site and ensuring that this precious habitat sustains despite sea level rises due to the climate crisis.” 
The project also involved extensive habitat creation, including the translocation of a colony of water voles to a purpose-built pond, new freshwater ponds to support bird and invertebrate diversity and the removal of overhead cables to protect avian flightlines. 

Daniel Leggett continues: “In a relatively small area a wide range of coastal management techniques are demonstrated (that can be applied more widely) to help sustain the species that live here including the saltmarsh plants and fish and their fry, birds, badgers and small mammals and invertebrates that all use the island and its saltmarsh. The work has improved biodiversity, is storing carbon and providing natural flood management to help reduce flood and erosion risks to the surrounding area.”  

As regional winner, the project will go forward to the national awards ceremony to be held in London on 23 November 2023.