Terraqua Environmental Solutions (TES) is proud to be working alongside leading wet civil engineering firm Land & Water Services to undertake the dredging and restoration of two lakes at the independent school Christ’s Hospital in Horsham.
Royal Charter
Christ’s Hospital is incredibly special. It is a Royal Chartered school, established in 1552 by King Edward VI, and is the UK’s leading charitable school as well as largest bursary charity. It actively seeks pupils of potential, who often come from varied and complex backgrounds and provides free or substantially reduced cost places to ensure that children have access to first-class education no matter their background. It was here that Land & Water’s CEO, James Maclean, was educated.
Working alongside Land & Water Services, and our trusted suppliers, we will be carrying out the restoration works as part of the school’s new transformational curricular which places great emphasis on learning skills for life and spending time outdoors. The lakes will be used for open water swimming, fishing, biology lessons and for cadet force training and other broader curricular pursuits.
We are delighted to be part of a project that looks to transform the lives of the next generation, harnessing the environment as an educational commodity. We have ensured that works will be delivered at as minimal cost as possible to the school with many staff members volunteering their time to support. We could not be more grateful to our suppliers and team for their commitment to this project.
On our initial site visit, we found the two lakes to be not only overgrown and in poor condition, but with a rich history that requires careful consideration. The larger, Doctor’s Lake, is likely to have been in existence for several centuries dating back to the late Iron Age. Its classic Wealdon feature suggests it was used in dams to power early ‘hammers’ for the forming of mechanised products. Upper Pond, which sits above Doctor’s Lake, is a newer addition added to retain increasing quantities of water for release later in the working day as demand grew for water to drive the production of tools.
To ensure the history of the lakes can be maintained and safeguarded for generations to come, we will be commencing works at the start of the summer holidays to ensure minimal disruption to pupils and staff. Using specialist machinery, we will be carrying out dredging works to remove vegetation, silt and debris as well as re-puddling and sensitive earthworks to restore the dam at the Upper Pond and improve water quality.
Clean construction
All machinery will be run entirely using HVO fuel, a 90+% net carbon biofuel which substantially reduces carbon emissions compared to conventional gas oil and is therefore better for the environment.
We are incredibly honoured to be working on this project, supporting a school which provides such a diverse and transformational education for young people of all backgrounds.