Case Studies (project)

UK Projects Map > Case Studies

The RRC has compiled a list of best practice case studies from the many site visits that its staff have been on over the years. The case studies give an overview of each project with key information such as dates, location, cost, design and the RRC's view on its subsequent performance. 

The case studies can be sorted by project name, river name and year of completion by clicking on each heading.

RRC Case Study Series

 
Manual of Techniques
Case Studies
 
RRC Case Study Series
                 
 

 Project 

      Technique River Year  
 

Blenheim Palace Project

   

 

Creating side bars, riffles and backwaters

Evenlode

2006

View

 

Boot Lane Enhancement Project

   

 

Gravel riffle creation

Shep

2007

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River Cam Habitat and Access Enhancement Project

   

 

Bank and in-channel improvements

Cam

2009

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Chinbrook Meadows

   

 

Re-meander channelised section and floodplain storage

Quaggy

2002

View

 

Churchill Gardens, Salisbury City Centre

   

 

Enhancing concrete floodwalls

Avon

2004

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Cornmill Gardens

   

 

Removing concrete channel, bank re-profiling

Ravensbourne

2007

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Croxall Lakes Channel Widening

   

 

Bank re-grading & removal, creation of shallows in adjacent lakes

Tame, Trent & Mease

2010

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Day Brook Water Meadow Project

   

 

Small-scale urban river restoration – re-meandering

Day Brook

2008

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Dove Weir Removal, Dovedale

   

 

Weir Removal, Re-wilding techniques using large wood

Dove

2010

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River Glaven Restoration Project

   

 

Introducing variation in river depth, width & flow & re-connection of a     flood plain

Glaven

2006

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Godinton Park Channel Enhancements

   

 

Revetment of eroded banks and       channel narrowing, stock watering   point and wet margin creation

Stour

2000

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Great Ryburgh Common Meander loop Re-connection

   

 

Rural river restoration - channel re-  meandering and narrowing

Wensum

2010

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Hinksey Stream bypass channel

   

 

Bypass channel to improve fish         passage and habitat

Hinksey Stream (Thames)

2013

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Fowlmere Nature Reserve, RSPB

   

 

Faggoting, bed raising, riffle creation, weed cutting

Shep

2009

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Ladywell Fields (QUERCUS)

   

 

Re-meandering, backwater and pond construction

Ravensbourne

2008

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Langford Lakes

   

 

Improvement of in-stream habitats

Wylye

2002

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Linear Park Enhancement Project

   

 

Berm creation, tree felling, invasive vegetation management

Pool

2012

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Longwater Lawn and Mallard         Wood and Mead, New Forest

   

 

Meander reinstatement, drain blocking and infill

Beaulieu

2010

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Meades Water Garden   Regeneration Project

   

 

Gravel bed re-introduction

Chess

2008

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River Mel Enhancement Project

   

 

Faggots & Coir rolls, importing           gravel, flow deflectors

Mel

2007

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Middleton Hall

   

 

Enhance a uniform, straight channel by creation of central islands

Tame

1998

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Milton Keynes Floodplain Forest     Park

   

 

Multiple channel and wet woodland mosaic habitat creation

Great Ouse

2015

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Montford Weir Removal, River     Calder Improvement Project

   

 

Weir removal, habitat enhancement, bank stabilsation

Pendle Water

2010

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Narborough Trout Fishery

   

 

In-channel pools and berm creation using existing deflectors

Nar

2011

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Ray Lodge Park, River Roding

   

 

Backwater and pond creation,           bank re-profiling

Roding

2008

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River Rhee, Cambridgeshire

   

 

Narrowing, re-profiling, backwater   creation

Rhee

2002

View

 

Salisbury City Centre Millennium Project

   

 

Enhancing concrete floodwalls

Avon

2000

View

 

Stoke Brook Floodplain   Restoration, Stoney Middleton

   

 

Floodplain restoration

Stoke Brook (Derwent)

2008

View

 

Stoke Brook Restoration, Stoney Middleton

   

 

Sediment removal, Riddling

Stoke Brook (Derwent)

2008

View

 

Sutcliffe Park, River Quaggy

   

 

Re-meandering, backwater creation, de-culverting

Quaggy

2003

View

 

River Tat Restoration Scheme

   

 

Woody debris, berms, pools and       glides

Tat

2013

View

 

Tokyngton Park

   

 

Re-meandering, backwater creation, de-culverting

Brent

2003

View

 

Watermeads Island

   

 

Excavating ditches, water level           control structures

Wandle

2008

View

 

Wensum Rehabilitation Project - Billingford

   

 

Restoring a defunct meander

Wensum

2000

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Wensum Rehabilitation Project - Bintree

   

 

Channel narrowing, riffle creation,   cattle crossings, deflectors

Wensum

2000

View

 

Wensum Rehabilitation Project - Bintree & North Elmham

   

 

Floodplain reconnection, in channel improvements and bankside             support

Wensum

2009

View

 

Wensum Rehabilitation Project - Fakenham

   

 

Bank revetment using bio-                 engineering methods

Wensum

2001

View

 

Woodsmill Stream at Sussex       Wildlife Centre

   

 

In channel improvements

Woodsmill   Stream (Adur)

2010

View

 

 

 

Manual of Techniques Case Studies
               
 

 River 

      Technique Year  
 

Alt

   

 

Radical re-design from uniform, straight channel to a sinuous, multi-channel river

1996

View

 

Avon

   

 

Narrowing of an over-widened channel using low cost groynes

1997

View

 

Avon

   

 

Fixing whole trees into the river bank for flow diversity

2008

View

 

Babingley Brook

   

 

Restoring an on-line lake to a chalk stream

2007

View

 

Braid Burn

   

 

New meanders replacing a lined urban channel

2010

View

 

Bure

   

 

Felling and placing trees for habitat and flow diversity

2010

View

 

Burn of Mosset

   

 

Breaching a flood bank to reconnect active floodplain processes

2010

View

 

Calder

   

 

Weir lowering and rock ramp construction

2010

View

 

Chess

   

 

Multiple Techniques

1995

View

 

Cole

   

 

Multiple Techniques

1996

View

 

Darent

   

 

Gravel reworking to restore a low flow channel

2005

View

 

Dearne

   

 

Creating a sinuous low flow channel in an over-widened river

1995

View

 

Dulais

   

 

Bank protection using root wads

2004

View

 

Highland Water

   

 

Returning a woodland stream to it's former sinuous course

2009

View

 

Inchewan Burn

   

 

Replacing an armoured bed with boulder step-pools

2007

View

 

Kennet

   

 

Raising river bed levels

2000

View

 

Little Ouse

   

 

Reconnecting remnant meanders

1994

View

 

Lodge Burn

   

 

Step-pool cascade fish pass and culvert bed improvement

2012

View

 

Great and Long Eau

   

 

Removing and setting back floodbanks

1996

View

 

Marden

   

 

Multiple techniques

2000

View

 

Monnow

   

 

Complete removal of a large weir

2011

View

 

Nith

   

 

Clay lined river

2004

View

 

Ogwen

   

 

Multiple techniques

1998

View

 

Ravensbourne

   

 

Opening up a culverted stream

2000

View

 

Rother (Western)

   

 

Reconnecting a remnant meander

2004

View

 

Rother (Tidal)

   

 

Brushwood mattress bank stabilisation on a tidal river

2005

View

  Rottal Burn    

 

Restoring a meandering course to a high energy river

2012

View

 

Skerne

   

 

Multiple techniques

1997

View

 

Somer

   

 

Sinuous low-flow course in an over-wide urban channel

2011

View

 

Sugar Brook

   

 

Diversion of a river valley

1998

View

 

Tall

   

 

Creation of on-line bays

1996

View

 

Thames

   

 

Floodplan wetland mosaic

1991

View

 

Thames

   

 

Bank revetment using low steel sheet piling and coir rolls

1996

View

 

Vallency

   

 

Creating 'natural' features in a heavily modified engineered flood scheme

2008

View

 

Yardley Brook

   

 

Replacing a concrete drain with a 'natural' channel

1995

View