Geomechanics.io

An ultrasonic acoustic fish deterrent designed for EDF’s Hinkley Point C cooling water intakes has proved “highly effective” in Swansea University trials, significantly reducing fish approach rates to the intake zone. The system uses targeted sound frequencies to steer multiple species away from the intake channel, aiming to meet Environment Agency requirements on impingement and entrainment without major changes to the intake structure. Trial results may remove the need for a large compensatory saltmarsh scheme on the Severn Estuary, easing local planning and coastal engineering constraints.

Britain is being urged to treat deep and shallow geothermal as a mainstream heat source, with a new national roadmap arguing that the country’s substantial but underused subsurface resource could displace a significant share of gas‑fired heating. The plan points to proven concepts such as mine‑water geothermal in former coalfields and district heating from deep sedimentary aquifers, which can be integrated with existing heat networks and large heat pumps. For civil and geotechnical engineers, this signals growing demand for high‑temperature boreholes, well integrity design and long‑term monitoring of thermal–hydraulic behaviour in urban ground.

WSP and Mott MacDonald have secured a £25M contract from Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE‑N) to deliver environmental services and permitting support for the proposed small modular reactor (SMR) development at Wylfa on Anglesey. The consultancies will lead environmental impact assessment, regulatory interface and consents strategy for the multi‑unit SMR site, a former nuclear location with complex coastal, seismic and ecological constraints. Early permitting work will be critical for geotechnical investigations, marine works and long‑lead nuclear island foundations once a reactor technology is selected.

Biodiversity net gain requirements on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects are being framed as a source of “desperately needed” long-term climate resilience, with large linear schemes such as new highways, rail corridors and strategic energy infrastructure able to create continuous habitat networks at scale. Experts point to legally secured 30‑year management plans, species-rich grassland and woodland planting, and restored wetlands as measures that can buffer flood risk, reduce heat stress and stabilise soils around major assets. For designers and contractors, this shifts BNG from a planning obligation to a core part of geotechnical and drainage resilience strategy.

The British Geological Survey has launched a multi-year programme to map and assess CO₂ storage potential in Triassic and Jurassic sandstone formations beneath the Central North Sea, using legacy hydrocarbon well logs and 3D seismic data. Geoscientists will evaluate porosity–permeability distributions, caprock integrity and pressure limits to define storage units suitable for multi-million-tonne injection linked to UK industrial clusters. Results are expected to guide site selection, well design and monitoring strategies for future offshore carbon storage licences.

Skanska has completed Anglian Water’s first integrated constructed treatment wetland at Everton Water Recycling Centre in Bedfordshire, designed to strip phosphorus and iron from final effluent using a nature‑based flow path rather than chemical dosing. The wetland forms part of the WRC outfall stream, using engineered reed beds and controlled hydraulic residence times to polish treated wastewater before discharge. For civil and water engineers, the scheme signals growing scope for low‑energy, passive treatment trains to meet tightening nutrient consents on small to medium works.

Southern Water has launched a £1.3bn framework tender for sustainable drainage and habitat restoration across its catchment, targeting large-scale SuDS retrofits, nature-based flood management and river corridor enhancement. The multi-year programme will call for design-and-build teams to deliver measures such as swales, wetlands, infiltration basins and floodplain reconnection to cut surface water inflows to sewers and reduce CSO spills. Contractors will need strong geotechnical, hydrological and ecological capability, with emphasis on whole-catchment modelling and long-term asset performance.

UK tree‑planting rates are falling far short of the UK’s statutory 2050 net‑zero pathway, with the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit warning that missed planting during this Parliament could create a long‑term “carbon removal gap” and weaker natural flood defences. The analysis points to delayed woodland creation in upland catchments and along floodplains, where riparian planting and shelterbelts could slow overland flow, stabilise soils and reduce peak river levels. For infrastructure planners, this signals greater reliance on hard‑engineered flood schemes and more expensive carbon removal options later in the century.

UK progress on legally binding environmental targets is “largely off track”, with the Office for Environmental Protection warning that current policies will not deliver the Environment Act 2021 goals on air, water and biodiversity. The watchdog cites slow delivery of river basin management plans, weak nutrient pollution controls and delays to local nature recovery strategies as key gaps. For infrastructure schemes, this signals tighter scrutiny of water quality impacts, biodiversity net gain delivery and construction emissions as regulators push departments and agencies to close compliance gaps.

A £40M plan to regenerate Northfleet Harbourside with a new Ebbsfleet United FC stadium and thousands of riverside homes is facing strong objections over lead contamination and freight disruption on the Thames. Objectors warn that disturbing historic industrial fill could mobilise legacy lead in soils and sediments, while new residential blocks and matchday traffic could constrain wharf access and rail-connected aggregates and cement terminals. Planners will need robust ground investigation, remediation strategies and safeguarded freight corridors to avoid compromising both public health and critical construction materials supply.

Deep-sea mining tests in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone at 4,280 metres depth, commissioned by Nauru Ocean Resources (a The Metals Company subsidiary), cut macrofaunal density by 37% and species richness by 32% along machine tracks over two years, based on disturbance of 3,000 tonnes of polymetallic nodules. European researchers from the Natural History Museum, University of Gothenburg and the National Oceanography Centre collected 4,350 sediment macrofaunal animals and identified 788 species, mainly polychaete worms, crustaceans and molluscs. The trial used machines only about half the size of planned commercial systems, raising concern that full-scale operations could cause larger, possibly irreversible, benthic impacts.

More than 15,000 tonnes of crushed concrete from the demolished turbine alternator plinths at Sizewell A has been certified to WRAP quality protocol and reused as sub-base for foundation platforms in the Sizewell C main construction area, just a few hundred metres away. Nuclear Restoration Services and Sizewell C report the material transfers are complete, avoiding landfill and an estimated 28 tonnes of CO₂ while cutting heavy truck movements through East Suffolk. The reuse scheme was initiated by the Environment Agency and East Suffolk Council as part of a wider push for circular decommissioning practice on nuclear sites.