BogLIFE Project Awarded Top Honours at ICE 2022
The team at RAB were delighted to hear that a collaborative project had won two honours at the 2022 West Midlands Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Awards Evening.
RAB was one of the delivery partners for the BogLIFE Project at Marshes Mosses in Shropshire, working alongside Natural England, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Brian Killingworth, WSP and WM Longreach. The aim of the project was to restore the natural peatbog in the area, thereby increasing habitat and carbon capture.
The creation of a new wetland area will attract visitors and bird watchers, thereby boosting the local economy. It will also foster community and volunteer engagement, as well providing educational opportunities.
The BogLIFE Project won both The Sustainability Award and overall Project of the Year, which was chosen from all the other category winners. The ICE said that, after hundreds of years of exploitation, no-one in the UK had ever tried to restore bog edge habitat on this scale.
Peatland ecosystems are some of the most carbon rich ecosystems on earth, storing up to 30 times more carbon per hectare than a tropical rainforest. Decades of land management practices in the UK had degraded 80% of peatland environments. The Office for National Statistics estimates that fully restoring the UK’s degraded peatlands could cost between £8-22bn over the next 100 years but would save £109bn in terms of reduced carbon emissions alone.
Russell Burton, Managing Director of RAB was naturally delighted about the award and recognition: “We were very proud to work alongside a wide range of public and private sector organisations to deliver this collaborative project. Restoring UK’s peatlands should definitely form part of the UK’s carbon neutral strategy and RAB are dedicated to contributing towards this goal.”
The team at RAB provided a range of services during the design phase of the project, including:
- Review of drawings and recommend improvements,
- Develop a design risk assessment,
- Support with discharging design related planning conditions,
- Support during the tender stage including the preparation of a tender document on behalf of the client,
- Act as Supervising Engineer and Project Manager under NEC4 ECSC.
Further details of the BogLIFE project can be found at: https://www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/marches-mosses-boglife
RAB deliver a wide range of resilience and flood risk services for both public and private sector organisations. More information is available here on our website, or you can get in touch for an informal discussion on your specific project by email to enquiries@rabconsultants.co.uk or call our head office in Lichfield on 0330 223 6475.