The Rookery Pit Restoration

Since 2003 we have been involved with the Rookery site, supporting both the landowner, O&H Properties, and the developers, Covanta Energy and Watt Power, through their respective planning and development consent orders for restoration and redevelopment. The goal? The stabilisation and restoration of the former clay pit into a development site that will include a new resource recovery facility and a gas fired electricity peaking plant.

We’ve provided a wide range of consultancy and engineering design services to support the clay pit’s initial restoration scheme. Our detailed geotechnical and geo-environmental assessments included the appraisal of slope stability and ground heave issues associated with legacy clay extraction. With that information, we created a sustainable mitigation design, which included reusing site-won materials to restore long-term stability across the pit walls and also stabilise the pit base as a future development platform.

Our technical and planning inputs were provided to both the restoration scheme planning consent and the subsequent energy use development consent order applications. During the construction phase, we monitored compliance against the scheme’s environmental management plan.

Besides the delivery of a resource recovery facility and energy park, the Rookery project also facilitated ecological improvement and improved public access to Rookery North. Plus—through establishment of mitigation measures—the landowner and developers were able to successfully maintain the biodiversity of the site.