West Lydford Weir Repair

The ancient weir on the River Brue, in the village of West Lydford, Somerset, had suffered a partial structural collapse to the downstream weir face, and severe scouring to the downstream toe.  This was jeopardising the structural integrity of the weir. 

The local community, through the newly formed West Lydford Company, sought advice from Suttle Projects which led to us being contracted to undertake the repair and improvement of the weir.

Suttle Projects undertook the dewatering of the works area by using a shallow sandbag dam.  The water supply to the downstream works site was maintained by over-pumping the dry works area, utilising a combination of pump and siphon systems.

Temporary sheet piling was utilised to stabilise the riverbank and accommodate a 50-tonne crawler crane.  This was followed by the installation of rock armour, with grout filled voids, to fill the severely scoured section of the downstream weir toe.

To avoid impairing the movement of eels, Suttle Projects designed and installed an eel pass, in accordance with Environment Agency and local authority consents. 

The Environment Agency also required the removal of the vegetation from the proposed works, to prevent the nesting of birds before and throughout the duration of the works.  It was also necessary that all of the hydraulic systems used bio-degradable oil, and for a pollution boom to be deployed downstream of the works, to minimise the risk posed by unplanned spillages into the water course.