Storm Spill Reduction Programme wins civil engineering award
Galliford Try and GHD won the 2025 ICE East Midlands Merit Awards Innovation and Technical Excellence category, sponsored by Winvic, for their Storm Spill Reduction Programme: Shaft Automation Tool, which was delivered for Yorkshire Water.
The winning project forms part of Yorkshire Water’s landmark £180 million investment in the Storm Spill Reduction Programme. Galliford Try and GHD were commissioned to investigate and deliver a reduction in the number of spills at 31 locations across the Yorkshire Water region, 11 of which were in the East Midlands.
The aim of the programme was to achieve a 20 percent stormwater spill reduction across the region by limiting discharges at each site to no more than 10 per year.
In the East Midlands, seven of the 11 sites progressed to detailed design, following an assessment by Yorkshire Water. GHD’s digital innovation team developed various automated processes, including a shaft automation tool.
At numerous locations in the East Midlands, including Avenue Farm Combined Sewer Overflow near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the team identified opportunities for innovative, site-specific design solutions that contributed to the programmes success.
The Innovation and Technical Excellence Award winner impressed the judges by the innovative use of the automated shaft design tool to support the investigation and reduction of stormwater spills. The judges praised the project for using technology to deliver significant efficiencies, streamlining complex calculations that would be time-consuming and resource intensive.
The ICE East Midlands Merit Awards were held on June 13 in Nottingham. Guests were joined by ICE Vice President, Richard Bayfield and guest speaker Professor Turi King, Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, known for her work leading the genetic analysis for the identification of King Richard III. The headline sponsor of the 2025 ICE East Midlands Merit Awards was Waterman Aspen.
Commenting on this year’s ICE East Midlands Merit Awards, Regional Director, Jo Barnett, said: “Our judges had a diverse range of projects to consider from all sectors of the industry, drawn from right across the region. The Storm Spill Reduction Programme: Shaft Automation Tool highlights how innovative solutions developed by engineers can tackle complex environmental challenges and this showcases the power of digital tools in modern infrastructure.”
"Our annual awards are important in not only demonstrating the importance of civil engineers, whose hard work and dedication can often go unnoticed, but in also celebrating the positive impact that civil engineering has right across the region.”