Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) have recently commenced the fourth Ecological Services Framework (EcoSf4) aimed at improving the health of the UK’s freshwater environments. The framework is divided into four lots:
- Lot 1 - Specialist macroinvertebrate services
- Lot 2 - Habitat and species surveys, evaluation and report writing services
- Lot 3 - Geomorphology, river restoration and habitat creation services
- Lot 4 - Fish passage design services
As in the previous framework (EcoSF3) AECOM has been appointed to all four lots and will be responsible for delivering a wide range of projects essential to improving understanding and restoring water bodies to good ecological status.
AECOM have already been appointed to a number of projects across the framework. Notable examples include:
- Freshwater Lake Surveys - AECOM have been appointed to conduct lake condition assessments across five SSSIs in Cumbria. The project team will undertake detailed surveys of each site before assessing the results and informing future management plans.
- Catchment Management and Habitat Creation – AECOM has been appointed to deliver a catchment-scale project in East Yorkshire to address issues associated with poor water quality and flooding. The project will undertake surveys and analysis to establish ecological, hydrological, and geomorphological baseline conditions to better understand the underlying processes within the catchment and inform solutions to key issues.
- River Restoration – AECOM have been appointed to design a restore a historically channelised section of river in Greater Manchester. The work requires detailed surveys and analysis as well as innovative designs and nature-based solutions to help restore a degraded watercourse and its floodplain.
- Macroinvertebrate Sampling - AECOM has been appointed to complete the identification and analysis of macroinvertebrates across multiple regions including Yorkshire, East Anglia, the West Midlands, Kent, South London, and East Sussex. The wide-ranging projects will help to determine the health of the freshwater environments and will inform future management plans for regulators and stakeholders.