First Minister & SEPA CEO visit completed River Leven rock ramp & wetlands project

It was a real pleasure to meet the First Minister John Swinney MSP and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) CEO Nicole Paterson on site this week at the recently completed rock ramp and wetlands we've had the privilege of constructing over the past three months.

The project, located at the Kirkland Dam on the River Leven, is part of a wider package of work delivered this summer by McGowan Environmental. Our works at the Kirkland Dam have included the construction of a rock ramp designed primarily for benefitting fish passage, and the creation and planting of wetland scrapes which will diversify the floodplain habitat.

The rock ramp construction required the meticulous cleaning of several thousand tons of imported stone, and the careful placing of this to deliver the completed product. The river bed was naturalised with a lining of site won screened and washed rounded cobbles and gravels, and the surrounding area reinstated with topsoil and coir and seeded with a native riverbank seed mix. Several thousand wetland plants have been carefully planted in the margins of the wetland scrapes. The resounding positive feedback received from those attending the ministerial visit is a testament to our site team’s dedication, professionalism and attention to detail.

Sam Hesling of McGowan Environmental, comments:

“When working in a setting where nature dictates much of what can and can’t be done on a day to day basis we were delighted to have had excellent engagement with the trust who manage the sluice gates on Loch Leven. At a key point in the construction of the rock ramp, where we were approaching completion, they were able to hold some water back allowing easier access to the live channel to complete our works. Both the client and the project designers have been very pro-active, and we have worked through all of the various challenges in a pragmatic and timely manner.

"This project has formed a key part of our workload in 2024, and through its delivery we have been able to invest significantly in our most important asset - our people. We believe that projects such as this play a key role in a Just Transition. Economically through local spending, socially through the creation and sustainment of quality employment opportunities which we were able to provide our staff, and environmentally through the delivery of nature restoration at scale. Our gratitude goes out to all of the project partners here, and others in the wider area, who have made delivering this project nothing short of a pleasure.”

As our summer programme of river restoration draws to a close we look forward to ramping up our programme of Peatland Restoration projects the length and breadth of Scotland!

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