The Wicken Fen Vision
The National Trust
Environment
One of the most important wetlands in Europe, the Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Cambridge in the east of England, has been owned and managed by the National Trust since 1899. Wicken Fen is one of the few remaining fragments of fenland wilderness in East Anglia and is home to over eight thousand species of plants and animals many of them rare and endangered.
Now a major National Trust scheme is underway to dramatically extend the reserve. The Wicken Fen Vision, the largest conservation project of its kind in lowland England, will lead to the creation of a landscape scale nature reserve covering an area of approximately 53km² between Cambridge and Wicken Fen. The Vision will see the restoration and creation of new wildlife habitats whilst providing a ‘green lung’, a vast area of countryside for public access and recreation.
Royal Haskoning was commissioned by the National Trust in September 2008 to provide advice and a range of expert services for construction of the bridge and associated habitat creation. These included environmental scoping, flood risk assessment, geotechnical engineering and quantity surveying. The team provided preliminary and detailed designs for the bridge, the approach embankments, and a 2km cycleway across nearby Burwell Fen. The team also procured contractors and managed construction works.