Claybury Pond
London Borough of Redbridge
The Site
Claybury Park is a 78ha inner city public open space which includes a wide range of different habitats, including wildflower meadows, scrubland, and 18ha of ancient woodland, comprising of mainly Oak (Quercus robur) and Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) along with Bluebells and wood anemones in spring.
The park was award green flag status in 2024.
The pond is located on the south slopes of the park and is used by the local community for dog walking, the outside gym equipment, and the play area. The park is classified as a local nature reserve, is boarded by Ancient Woodland to the North and is within the impact zones of 4 local SSSIs.
The Brief
Practicality Brown were commissioned to sensitively undertake the desilting and clearance of existing overgrown reedbeds to create open water, and to increase opportunities for local biodiversity. As part of the works, we were also asked to over excavate large areas of the pond to provide additional surface water storage, a five-metre-wide reed margin was to be left around two thirds of the pond edge.
Practicality Brown Services
- Supplied and installed pumps and sandbags to control water levels within pond during the work.
- Working alongside our supply chain, we supplied a specialist low ground pressure tracked excavator which was able to sit on top of the reed mass, this Bogmaster excavator was able to access all parts of the pond.
- A thirteen metre Long Reach excavator was used to remove the stockpiled reeds, silt and arisings from the lake, the extra reach of the machine was required to lift the dredged material over the retained reed margin.
- PBL provided a seven-tonne tracked dumper as well as security fencing, plant operators and site management.
- Working from within the pond, the existing reeds were removed to 5 locations by 9t wide tracked excavator.
- Once stockpiled, the reeds were transferred by Long Reach into the tracked dumper and transported 150m to their final location under supervision.
- In addition to the removal of the reeds, large areas of the pond were over excavated to create deeper pools, these deeper areas will limit the areas available for the Phragmites to recolonise as well as increasing the water attenuation capacity of the pond.
- Approximately 1500m3 of silt, reed and spoil were removed from the pond, the arisings were placed in two locations and then shaped by the excavators, these bunds will be left to green over naturally.
The Challenges
- Restrictive access to the site required careful planning, to ensure that deliveries of heavy plant had minimal impact on the surrounding residential areas.
- Very soft ground conditions due to working in and adjacent to a water body. This was compounded by the adverse weather conditions, which saw the works being undertaken in the first sub-zero degree conditions of winter 2024, further increasing the slickness of the ground conditions onsite.
Outcome
Positive feedback from the local community who had suffered several flood events since the start of the millennium (2000, 2019 and 2022).
Increase in local biodiversity and decrease in future maintenance by London Borough of Redbridge
See more case studies from the Practicality Brown Habitats Team.