A major milestone has been reached on the £58 Ipswich Flood Barrier Scheme.

A joint venture (JV) between VolkerStevin, Boskalis Westminster and Atkins has completed the £21m first phase of the scheme, which involved installing a cofferdam.

The structure has now been pumped dry and river silt/gravel has been excavated, meaning construction of the barrier can now take place below the river bed.

The next stage is the pouring of the base slab, which is more than 700 cubic metres of reinforced concrete. Steel reinforcement is being placed by a 20-strong team and the first pour of the base slab will be completed in the next couple of weeks.

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The tidal gate is being fabricated in Holland and will be delivered later in the year, when the concrete structure and control building have been completed. Further progress on the site includes installing the foundations for the flood walls and the control building.

Nick Culshaw, operations director at VBA, said: "It has been a real honour to be working with and supporting the EA on this vital project in Ipswich. In order to protect around 2,000 properties, both commercial and residential, within the town from flooding in the future, a 20m wide tidal barrier gate, along with a new Control Building and the relevant controls, will be installed.

"The barrier, along with additional flood defences undertaken by VBA, will prevent any surge tides up to the 1 in 300 year event (0.33%) and allow the control of fluvial flow as required in the future."

Andrew Usborne, Environment Agency project manager, added: "The integrated team at the barrier are making good progress and are on programme to complete the works in spring 2018. I am really looking forward to the next key milestone, which is the delivery of the tidal gate from Holland later in the summer."

VBA will maintain the barrier until 2018, when the scheme is due to be completed.

(LM)