Case study:Beam washlands

Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site	http://https://safag.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/19_Beam.pdf
Themes	Economic aspects, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Monitoring, Social benefits
Country	England
Main contact forename	Becca
Main contact surname	O'Shea
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	Environment Agency
Contact organisation web site	http://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency
Partner organisations	Arup, Design for London, Land Trust, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, London Borough of Havering, Natural England
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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This multi-award winning partnership project built on a £4.5 million flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) scheme to improve the integrity and capacity of this flood storage washland, providing better protection to over 570 homes and businesses. The scheme provides a large, wildlife-rich, community parkland in one of east London's most deprived communities ((Map 1). This includes 12.6ha of Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitat, 150m of remeandering on the Wantz Stream, 600m of reprofiling and 300m of in-channel features on the River Beam. The project was completed in 2012; maintenance is funded and delivered by partners. Increasing the storage capacity of the existing washlands from 433,000m3 to 458,660m3 provides a standard of protection to downstream properties for (approximately) up to a 1 in 25 year flood event. The provision and operation of the pumping stations provides an enhanced standard of protection of up to 1 in 150 years. This reduces the risk of flooding to 570 homes and 90 businesses. The flood risk regulation benefits of undertaking this project provide a gross asset value of avoided flood damage benefits worth £591,000 per year compared with £193,000 per year before the scheme was constructed.

Socioeconomic/historic context Eftec (2015) states that: 'Beam Parklands is a multi-use community space and flood storage area situated in the south-east of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The site lies on the borough boundary between Dagenham and South Hornchurch. Historically, the land has been used for a variety of different purposes. In the Victorian era, a smallpox isolation hospital was constructed on part of the site. However, for the majority of the 20th century, the site was open space and was eventually designated as part of the Green Belt to protect the openness of the corridor along the Beam River'. Before the recent flood risk management scheme discussed here, the majority of the land area (Beam Washlands) was owned and managed as a flood storage area by the Environment Agency. A smaller pocket of land was owned by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for use as park space. This was largely unmanaged with low levels of accessibility for some nearby communities, contributing to high levels of deprivation in the area, and subject to instances of antisocial behaviour.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Increasing the storage capacity of the existing washlands from 433,000m3 to 458,660m3 provides a standard of protection to downstream properties for (approximately) up to a 1 in 25 year flood event. The provision and operation of the pumping stations provides an enhanced standard of protection of up to 1 in 150 years. This reduces the risk of flooding to 570 homes and 90 businesses. The flood risk regulation benefits of undertaking this project provide a gross asset value of avoided flood damage benefits worth £591,000 per year compared with £193,000 per year before the scheme was constructed.

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Location: 51° 32' 2.67" N, 0° 10' 11.33" E

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Site Edit site Name Beam WFD water body codes WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) £3.7m"£" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Environment Agency, London Development Agency, European Regional Development Fund, Communities, Local Government Parklands Fund, Landfill Tax Credits Scheme, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Flood risk management Hydromorphology Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Offline storage areas Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information