ICE President visits Ipswich

The President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Professor David Balmforth visited Ipswich last week to see the town’s flood risk management improvement works and the new energy-from-waste facility at Great Blakenham.

 

Following a presentation about the five year project to prevent Ipswich flooding he was shown where a 20 metres wide tidal barrier will be installed at the mouth of the New Cut of the River Orwell. Similar to the Thames Barrier, the single gate will be raised should the river rise or be subject to a surge. This and the rest of the improvements will help to protect 1,900 homes and businesses.

He was also shown a tunnel built to house two 132kv oil filled electricity cables which date back to the 1950s. The tunnel will protect the cables from fracture or failure from sheet piling operations. Now the tunnel is complete and the cables relocated the rest of the improvements can press ahead.

After the visiting the tunnel Professor Balmforth called in at Suffolk New College to meet civil engineering students over lunch. Professor Balmforth was accompanied on his visit by his wife Gillian and President’s Apprentice Peter Coppenhall. Every ICE President selects up to six civil engineering graduates as apprentices to work with them during their year of office.

In the afternoon he travelled to Great Blakenham to see the SITA UK energy-from-waste facility that opened last December. The site burns waste from Suffolk and Norfolk, the heat used to make steam which drives a turbine to generate electricity. At present electricity is generated to supply 30,000 homes (approximately the same number of homes as in Lowestoft), worth £25,000 a day. It has the capacity to burn 269,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Image: Professor Balmforth (left) with Site Manager Paul Leighton

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