Ulley Dam is award winner

The innovative engineering project was one of six out of 22 entries to win a Certificate of Excellence in the Institution's annual award ceremony.

The Award is open to engineering projects completed within the Yorkshire and Humber region during the last year that demonstrate quality design and workmanship, innovation and engineering difficulty. They also have to be fit for purpose, be sustainable and show high levels of health, safety and welfare.

The award submission was made by the three partners in the project - Rotherham Borough Council as the client, the designers Ove Arup and Ringway Infrastructure Services, who was the contractor and the council's strategic partner for the civil engineering works.

The judging panel was shown around Ulley Country Park in February. Despite the poor weather on the day the judges were clearly impressed by the achievements on show such as the new spillway and new pedestrian bridge built into the earth-embankment together with other improvements.

Officers from the Council explained how the rehabilitation scheme was made necessary after the Victorian dam wall nearly failed on the night of June 25, 2007, following heavy rain.

It was made safe on a temporary basis but the inspection report that followed then detailed the measures the Council had to carry out to meet safety standards. This resulted in detailed ground investigations, geotechnical analysis, the procurement of specialist consultants for the design of the new spillway, wave protection, the scour pipe and the core of the dam itself.

The detailed technical investigations and design work, including the building of a working model on the new spillway, was carried out by consultants Ove Arup.

The spillway work, including the new pedestrian bridge, was carried out by contractors Ringway, who also fitted a new scour pipe, carried out erosion protection to the embankment as well as improvements to the clay core of the dam wall.

Representatives from all three organisations attended the awards ceremony at York's National Railway Museum.