Cotswold Canal Connected & Building with Nature
T he Cotswold Canals Connected Project links the Stroudwater Navigation from The Ocean Railway Bridge at Stonehouse to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at Walk Bridge near Saul Junction. The Project is approximately 4 miles long consisting of 3 miles of defunct navigation and 1 mile of navigation (the “missing mile”) that has been created from arable and pasture land between Eastington and the A38. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are a lead delivery partner along with Stroud District Council and Cotswold Canals Trust. Other delivery partners include Stroud Valleys Project and the Canal & River Trust. The engineering and restoration work of the canal has been undertaken in tandem with a range of ecological mitigation and enhancement measures, including heritage considerations and community engagement. Elizabeth (as a Building with Nature Assessor) has assessed the project against the Building with Nature (BWN) standards: Core; Wellbeing; Water; and Wildlife & Nature Recovery. The scheme was found to pass all the BWN standards both during and post construction.
Cotswold Canal Connected & Building with Nature
Following an audit of the assessment by the BWN auditors, Cotswold Canal Connected has passed its BwN Accreditation and gained the Full Award, thus demonstrating that the project has delivered high-quality green infrastructure to benefit people and wildlife, which underpins the Building with Nature benchmark (https://sintali.com/building-with-nature).
NB It is worth noting that while the current UK Accreditation Scheme is unfortunately closing, the Building with Nature standards will continue to be available as a useful best-practice framework, supporting consultancy, design and the delivery of nature-positive development.
