THE team behind the Walham 400kV Substation Flood Defence Scheme in Gloucester are celebrating their success, after the winners of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) South West Project of the Year Awards 2014 were announced.

The awards were presented at the ICE South West Annual Awards and Dinner held on Friday 4th July at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Trish Johnson, ICE South West Regional Director said: “The objective of the awards is to recognise projects completed in 2013 of particular merit, physical achievement, innovation or ingenuity which promote the excellence of the engineering profession.

“The entries this year were of an extremely high standard and all of those recognised in the Major project category thoroughly deserved the acknowledgement and the Walham Flood Defence Scheme fought off some extremely strong competition.”

Trant Engineering was both the main contractor and lead designer on the scheme which was declared the winner for projects over £1 million. The project which was built for the National Grid, also won the first ever Members Award which gave ICE members the opportunity to vote for the favourite project within this year’s nominations.

The project saw the installation of 1km of reinforced walls for robust flood protection for nationally important Walham Substation, near Gloucester, which links power stations supplying electricity to approximately one million homes and businesses.

The judges commented: ‘The threats to our National Infrastructure have made the headlines every year. The Walham team demonstrated that not only can infrastructure be protected but it can be done so sustainably, safely and timely and with the promotion of the industry. Safety was integral to the design and execution of the works with preparedness for all eventualities, and delivered in time for the winter 2013 floods.’ The first highly commended in the Major Project of the Year category went to Bristol Water, Black & Veatch, Kier May Gurney and Damar Group for Bristol Resilience Scheme. The largest individual project in Bristol Water’s AMP5 programme, it is the largest new pipeline investment in their history, providing security of water supply to 150,000 of central Bristol’s residents.

The second highly commended was awarded to North Somerset Council, CH2M Hill and Alun Griffiths for Weston Package SE2-5, in Weston-super-Mare. A scheme that has improved pedestrian transport into and around Weston, which finished three months ahead of schedule and opened for the Christmas shopping period.

The ICE South West Major Project of the Year Award was sponsored by Topcon.