Unlocking the Severn was a huge-scale river project, restoring connectivity for migratory fish on the UK’s longest river and engaging millions of people with the fascinating natural, cultural, and industrial heritage of the Severn.
Construction first commenced at Bevere weir in May 2019. Unlike the other three deep vertical slot fish passes on the river Severn navigation weirs, the design solution at Bevere was entirely different as there was more adjacent land area to work with. The land provided space for the ideal fish pass design, so a
bypass channel fish pass was constructed.
This consists of one continuous, gradually sloping channel approximately 100m long, sweeping around the adjacent land. Blocks cast into the base of the
channel slow the water and break up the flows. This creates near-natural varied flow conditions, that fish, including the endangered twaite shad, can
comfortably swim through.
This project took across at various locations, please read Unlocking the Severn (Diglis) for the detailed project breakdown.
