For St. Ibbs Park
Re-excavating tonnes of silt to restore a lake
After years-worth of silt had all-but destroyed a lake, we re-excavated it to restore its beauty.
The disappearing lake
Coupled with a lower water table, a gradual build-up of silt over many years meant that St. Ibbs Lake in Hertfordshire lake had disappeared.
To restore it, we lifted off the layer of silt with a 14 tonne excavator and a pair of 10 tonne dumper trucks. This process took the lake to its original depth, but due to the current lower water table there was still very little water. Therefore the next phase of digging was to remove the second layer of substrate to an average depth of approximately five metres. In all, we removed more than 12,000 cubic metres of silt.
Restored and future-proofed
As a result, the lake is wonderfully restored and even improved; it’s now at a depth which means it will be many centuries before it builds up with silt again.
