Hunton Engineering were commissioned by BAM Nuttall in 2021 to design, build and install the M&E elements required to upgrade Hardmead sluice from a single radial gate to a dual tilting weir arrangement. Huntons completed the full design including the gates, drive bridge, control system, passive fish pass, pumped eel pass, site parapet & hatches and dynamic stop-logging system. The gate drive uses a dual leadscrew to modulate the gate providing fine control and ability to maintain an accurate upstream river level. Huntons fabricated all the equipment in-house and carried out lift testing of the drive equipment.
The site works were installed over an 18 month period which included staged construction approach to minimise flood risk. Huntons designed and installed a 1500mm diameter flume dam to allow the river to pass through the construction site whilst maintaining a dry working area for ourselves and BAM to work in. The flume dam was a success and the design is being implemented in the nest project.
An additional requirement for the project was to provide dynamic stoplogs which can be installed into a live river in an emergency. CFD analysis was carried out to determine the loadings and specialised heavy stoplogs on wheels were designed and delivered and tested on site to prove functionality. The dynamic stoplogs were a success and provide a key resilience to the Environment Agency.
The gates were successfully commissioned, SAT tested and brought into service in May 2024.
