River restoration - Entering a phase of boom & bust?

Will Bond  (Alaska Environmental Contracting Ltd - will@alaska.ltd.uk)

Proceedings paper from the 10th Annual River Restoration Centre Network Conference, 1st - 2nd April 2009

Full text here

Please note that this is a wiki article, open to revisions, and thus only the content of the attached pdf file can be attributed to the named author(s)

Abstract

River restoration in the UK looks set to expand rapidly to meet the challenges of getting Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) into favourable condition, and to achieve good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). However, rapid expansion brings with it the risk of sucking in a high proportion of unskilled and inexperienced designers and contractors, with the potential to undermine the credibility of restoration. It is argued that the industry needs to do what it can to ensure a steady expansion of capability and use what influence we have to promote a steady, rather than dramatic, increase in workload.

Keywords

contractors; expansion; river restoration; skills