A combination of piling disciplines required
We are currently working on the Canal & River Trust’s £15 million project to restore Toddbrook Reservoir.
In August 2019, following a period of intense heavy rainfall, several concrete panels on the dam spillway collapsed.
The services of Ivor King, being a multi-disciplined piling contractor, have been called upon to deal with both the steel sheet piling and concrete piling aspects the solution calls for.
At the time of writing, we have already installed around 100 steel sheet piles at the dam crest, with additional piles to be installed over the coming months to construct a new side channel weir, tumble bay and spillway.
Once the sheet piles are in-situ, the ground will be excavated to form the new channel, then concrete piles, using the CFA (Continuous Flighted Auger) method of installation, will form a base for the new spillway structure.
Dam disaster averted
Toddbrook Reservoir is located in the High Peak area of Derbyshire, just upstream of the town of Whaley Bridge. Constructed in the 1830s, the reservoir dam was once the tallest dam in the UK.
Excess rainfall in the summer of 2019 and subsequent damage to the dam spillway triggered the evacuation of 1,500 residents from the town whilst reservoir water levels of were brought down. The RAF was drafted in to help Fire & Emergency services pump millions of gallons of water away, whilst deploying Chinook helicopters to drop 620 one-ton bags of aggregate to shore up the dam.
The two-year remedial works to improve resilience against high water levels after heavy rainfall are expected to be completed by late 2024, when the reservoir will be brought back into active use.
