Congresbury reservoir turns village fear into award-winning work
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-13)

The Gooseum Rhyne Reservoir project has won the ICE South West Collaboration Award 2025.

An innovative approach to reservoir management that placed community voices at the heart of decision-making has won the ICE South West Collaboration Award 2025.

The Gooseum Rhyne Reservoir project near Bristol has been awarded the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) South West 2025 Project Award for Collaboration. An award recognising the team’s exceptional commitment to working closely with the local community and a willingness to rethink its approach based on community feedback.

A flood scheme capable of holding 10 Olympic pools

The original flood alleviation scheme was constructed in 1982 to protect low-lying Congresbury, which has a long history of flooding. In response, a floodwater storage reservoir was built, capable of holding at least 25,000m³ or 10 Olympic swimming pools of water if needed, until it could be safely released back into the environment.

Due to this reservoir’s storage capacity of more than 25,000m³ of water above natural ground level, it was later registered as a ‘large, raised reservoir’ under the Reservoirs Act 1975. This classification then meant that the embankments were assessed against tough standards for maintenance.

Fears that sports facilities and trees would be lost

When improvement works were required which would have impacted the neighbouring properties, youth club, basketball court and Millennium Green memorial trees, the local community fed back strongly.

Throughout the planning process, Catherine Farrugia, Environment Agency catchment engineer for the project, championed thoughtful stakeholder engagement, building strong relationships with the community and ensuring their views shaped the project’s direction. Through extensive public consultations and drop-in events, the team listened to community priorities and worked collaboratively to explore solutions.

This dialogue inspired an innovative breakthrough: legally ‘deregulating’ the reservoir by reducing its storage capacity while maintaining its flood defence function - an approach that better aligned engineering requirements with community values.

Solution saves £8 million and public amenities

The solution preserved the Millennium Green as a public amenity, maintaining woodland, river access, footpaths, and memorials while improving accessibility. This also saved approximately £8 million and cut the amount of carbon resulting from the work by 98%.

Environment Agency research showed that reducing how much water could be kept in the reservoir wouldn’t impact Congresbury, but would put less stress on the reservoir’s embankments. Construction finished in summer 2024 and the reservoir formally deregulated in January this year.

The ICE judges commended the team’s dedication to community engagement and their ability to adapt plans based on community feedback, recognising this as a fantastic example of how collaboration can unlock innovative solutions to complex challenges.

‘Engineering can respect sense of place’

The Gooseum Rhyne Reservoir project team at the ICE South West Awards 2025

Catherine Farrugia of the Environment Agency said:

This engagement is an example of how engineering, delivered simply and sensitively, can respect a community’s sense of place whilst still achieving the objectives.

The social value this project has championed shows what’s possible when we listen and respond to the communities we serve.

Meloney Celliers, Gooseum Rhyne Reservoir project manager at the Environment Agency, said:

This project demonstrates how creative thinking and genuine collaboration can deliver outstanding results for communities and the environment.

By challenging conventional approaches and working closely with residents, we’ve achieved a solution that exceeds all expectations whilst protecting what matters most to the community.

Dominic Bradley, project director of Atkins Réalis said:

We’re delighted this innovative project earned the recognition it richly deserves through the ICE South West Collaboration Award 2025 - and leaves the community with the lasting legacy they wanted.

It’s a great example of collaborative team working to deliver improved outcomes for all, through challenging conventional thinking.

Philip Ramsay, operations director at Kier, said:

The Gooseum Rhyne project exemplifies the power of partnership and collaborative working between organisations and with the community.

Our team’s ability to adapt, innovate and put community needs at the heart of the solution directly resulted in an outcome that benefits everyone involved.

We’re proud to have been part of such a transformative project.

Background

The Gooseum Rhyne Reservoir is a flood storage area on the Congresbury Yeo River. It was classified as a reservoir in 2006 under the Reservoirs Act 1975 due to the volume of water it can hold above the adjacent natural ground. The scheme was formally deregistered in January 2025.

The low-lying nature of the area means that there is a long history of flooding over the past millennia, which has continued until recent times. The North Somerset area is ranked second nationally for having the highest number of properties at significant risk of flooding.

The most extreme flood event was caused by a severe storm in 1968 that led to flooding of 125 properties to a maximum depth of 2 metres. The same storm caused devastation to towns and villages across the country. In 2000, the Millennium Green at Congresbury village was flooded although no properties were flooded.

The project cost £860,000 (compared to original estimated cost of approximately £8.86 million).