The 拢47m contract has been awarded to Balfour Beatty by the Waveney, Lower Yare & Lothingland Internal Drainage Board through the Scape framework.
The scheme is designed to provide sustainable flood risk protection to the A12 road, Parkdean Holiday Park, 35 homes, 46 businesses and 600 hectares of farmland.
The project will see Balfour Beatty replace the existing Benacre pumping station, built in 1955 and now past its design life and at risk of coastal erosion. The contractor will also construct a new embankment across the Lothingland Valley to manage tidal flooding as well as build an additional, smaller pumping station along the embankment to manage fluvial flooding.
An intertidal channel will also be created between the new embankment and the coastline, forming a new intertidal habitat area. This will help create 82 hectares of habitat to support migratory and breeding farmland birds, waterfowl, and seabirds.
Balfour Beatty will use modular construction techniques to build the pumping station structures offsite so that the existing pumping station can continue to operate before being decommissioned and removed.
Enabling works began in spring 2025, with main construction due to begin later in the year. Completion is planned for 2030.
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