Kier’s Bridgwater tidal barrier work has reached a stage where the downstream flood defences are due to finish before Christmas. Dr Rachel Burden said the barrier build has made significant progress, and Nigel Bennetts said the scheme is still on course to give improved flood protection to more than 11,300 homes and 1,500 businesses.
Burden, the Environment Agency’s project sponsor, told the Somerset Rivers Authority board in a written report that the temporary bypass channel is complete and is now carrying river flows around the in-river coffer-dam. She added that tubular steel piles have been driven into the riverbed, the central area of the coffer-dam has been excavated and pumped dry, and the contractor is now constructing the concrete substructure.
River Parrett scheme progress
The £249m scheme is being delivered across the River Parrett near Express Park in Bridgwater. Burden also said construction of the three towers is programmed to start later this financial year, which keeps the project moving from the riverworks phase into the main barrier structures.
The downstream works matter because they are the part now closest to completion. Bennetts, from the tidal barrier project team, said: “We are anticipating that construction of the downstream defences will be completed this year.” That timetable gives a firmer reading on the pace of the wider build before the full scheme date is published.
Design efficiency review
The project team has also been trimming the design. Bennetts said the implementation of a “design efficiency review” in late-2025 gave the scheme a chance to “reassess and refine elements of the scheme design to mitigate increasing cost pressures.” He said the barrier design has been simplified while keeping the same level of flood protection.
That review has already changed the height of the proposed towers and pushed the team toward more modern methods of technology and construction. Bennetts said further work is under way on efficiencies in the operational building and landscape design, while the updated completion date for the full scheme is expected to be made public by the end of the summer.
Chilton Trinity and Dunball
Work away from the main barrier is also moving. A three-kilometre haul road from Saltlands Lane has been completed at Chilton Trinity, and construction can begin shortly on the final 600 metres of secondary flood defences there. A similar haul road has been completed off the A38 between Dunball and Pawlett, and defences just downstream of the Hinkley Point C park and ride facility are due to recommence by late-June.
For residents and businesses waiting on the scheme, the immediate change is not abstract: the riverworks are advancing, the downstream defences have a near-term finish line, and the wider programme still has a revised end date to come. The next number to watch is the one due by the end of the summer.
