Ffos-y-Fran Land Reclamation Scheme, East of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK

Applying cross discipline expertise to cope with a changing environment

Ffos-y-Fran was the centre of iron extraction during the UK’s industrial revolution. Although derelict for years, the 400ha site has regained to importance due to various factors including rising coal prices. We are helping find new value in this previously under-utilised site by applying a range of our services and expertise.

The new colliery will extract 10.7m tonnes over fifteen years using a box cut technique which will change the topography of the site creating micro-climates. Vital air quality studies will be greatly affected by these shifts as standard dispersion models depend heavily on accurate meteorological data which is only available from a site 70 miles away. Ffos-y-Fran has a high elevation, is in a valley and will have a constantly changing landscape rendering off site information inaccurate.

To overcome these issues we created a model based on our transport experience that used techniques from the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB). Though designed specifically for transport studies, we were able to adapt the methods and generate usable estimates. The approach was not only effective for our work to assess the impact of emissions at Ffos-y-Fran but has been adopted for different sites by others in the mining industry.

The Ffos-y-Fran Land Reclamation Scheme is part of a reclamation scheme which is transforming the largest area of acutely derelict land of this type in Western Europe.

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Did you know?

When normal techniques don’t apply to a project our breadth of services and experience gives us an edge in producing solutions for a changing environment.

Services provided

Acoustics and air quality
Contaminated land and geotechnics
Environmental
Hydrology
Mining and minerals
Roads
Transport
Utilities
Waste management

Project highlights