Ceremony marks completion of South West Inverness Flood Relief Channel
The final phase of the Inverness South West Flood Relief Scheme is now complete and marks the culmination of a £16 million project to protect 600 homes at risk of flooding on the south side of the city.
The scheme is now operational and flood flows which would have normally passed through the Culduthel, Lochardil, Drummond and Hilton areas will now be diverted down the newly completed channel to outfall into the River Ness via the Holm Burn. There will be no change to the flows in the burns during normal conditions.
The construction phase of the scheme started in the summer of 2010 at the River Ness and works have been on-going towards the upper intake on the Ault na Skiah Burn to the south of Fairways Golf course until now.
Phase 1 and 2 were completed by George Leslie Ltd; Phase 3 by Global Construction Ltd and Phase 4 by RJ Macleod Ltd. Holm Burn Bridge was built by Balfour Beatty. The designers of the scheme were AECOM. The works were supervised throughout by The Highland Council.
Councillor Graham Phillips, Chairman of the Council’s Transport Environmental and Community Services said: "This is a major project for the city and represents a significant investment in flood mitigation measures to deal with exceptional weather flood events that we are increasingly experiencing.”
Phase one commenced at the River Ness and travels up the Holm Burn to Holm Burn Bridge. The works involved increasing the capacity of Holm Burn, bunding works on the banks, the widening and deepening of an existing sediment pond, the construction of a fish pass and the replacement of two bridges.
Phase two commenced at the Holm Burn just downstream of Torbreck Bridge and terminates at Culduthel Channel. The works involved construction of the confluence at Holm Burn, a sedimentation pond and weir to catch sediment from the channel prior to its discharge into the Holm Burn. The channel travels in a culvert until beyond Essich Road, and then travels largely in open channel until Culduthel Channel.
Phase three began at Culduthel Channel and ended at Lochardil Burn, Old town of Leys. The channel is a combination of culverted sections and open channel.
The final phase lies between Oldtown of Leys and the Alt na Skiah Burn to the south of Fairways Golf course. The scheme intercepts four watercourses - Lochardil Burn, Slackbuie Channel, Slackbuie Springs and Alt na Skiah Burn - and channels the waters into the River Ness, via the Holm Burn.
The replacement of Holm Burn Bridge on Dores Road increases the flood capacity of this bridge. Developers have helped fund the widening of the bridge and provision of a cycleway to access a proposed adjacent development.
The Council is also undertaking a £24.75 million project to protect 800 homes and 200 businesses in the city centre from flooding via the River Ness Flood Alleviation Scheme between Ness Bridge and Friars Bridge. Preparatory works are well under way in readiness for the construction of the flood defences.
-Ends-