A global marine consultancy based in Croydon has been handed a £136,000 contract by Scottish Borders Council to produce a management plan for the much studied Berwickshire coast.
According to the council's description of the project, named the Berwickshire Coast Shoreline Management Plan and Eyemouth Coastal Study, the Berwickshire Coastline was previously included as part of the St Abbs Head to River Tyne Shoreline Management Plan or SMP (Sept 1998).
From the Scottish/English Border south the SMP has been updated to current guidance and there is now a requirement to do the same for the Berwickshire Coast.
"The SMP aims to provide guidance to authorities and regulatory bodies as to the future sustainable management of the Berwickshire Coastline, essentially providing an agreed high level approach, intent and framework for management", says the contract notice. "In addition the SMP will set out an understanding of coastal behaviour, the pressures, constraints and opportunities for sustainable use of the coastal zone to allow and guide others in developing their own planning."
Successful bidders for the study work are Mott MacDonald, Mott MacDonald House,, 8-10 Sydenham Road, Croydon. The consultancy is a global engineering company which has been involved in major marine projects across the world. The value of the contract is given as £136,960. When tenders were invited last September the cost was estimated at £150,000.
In another council document detailing the potentially vulnerable areas of the Berwickshire coastline, it is claimed there are approximately 70 residential properties and 50 non-residential properties at risk of flooding. The annual average damages are approximately £300,000.
The council's detailed brief says the study will assist planners, individuals and organisations with interest in the coast.The consultant will be responsible for the Topographical, Environmental and Ecological Surveys to inform the Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk Study.
"The consultant will also be responsible for scoping, specifying and producing tender documents for any additional survey works at any stage of the project. These surveys may include: structural, ground (including contamination), archaeological, geophysical, topographical etc. to go out to competitive tender.
"The consultant will determine the best time to undertake these surveys within the study timelines. The contract document(s) for this work must be approved by the employer (SBC) before tenders are invited. The employer may, in some cases (to be agreed suitably in advance) issue the tender documents and be responsible for awarding the contract(s) following receipt of a tender report by the Consultant.
"In scoping any archaeological surveys the consultant will work in close liaison with members of the archaeological service at SBC. The consultant will undertake their own visual inspection and assessment of structures and scope any further investigation work which may be required including any intrusive testing, underwater inspection by diving, foundation examinations, etc. The consultant will supervise any survey contract(s) that are awarded. The consultant will undertake any interpretative reporting from the surveys carried out."
In conclusion, the council contract award notice states: "The aims of the commission are to; update the existing Shoreline Management Plan for the Berwickshire coast in line with Shoreline Management Plan 2 guidance: undertake a coastal study in Eyemouth to develop a holistic understanding of the risks of coastal flooding and erosion within the town.The outcome will be recommendations on the most sustainable combination of actions which will be required to manage risk over the short, medium and long term."
A 115 kilometre stretch of the Berwickshire and North Northumberland coast from Fast Castle in the north to Alnmouth in the south is designated as a European Marine Site following detailed studies of the entire area.
And in the early years of this century the Scottish Government offered funding for another study of the Berwickshire seaboard.
No comments:
Post a Comment