Mote Park lake – the planning and design of upgrade works

Abstract

Mote Park lake, located in Maidstone, Kent, was constructed in its current form in the 1830s. It is situated within a grade 2 listed park. The works set out in the original scope were limited to increasing the capacity of the existing dam spillway. They included construction of an auxiliary spillway to accommodate an extreme flood. During design development, the poor condition of the drawdown facilities was identified. Refurbishment and upgrade to automatic control and operation was included within the scope of works at little additional cost reducing the scope of temporary works required for construction. This paper explains the project background and the reasons for the upgrade to the reservoir, which include the spillway improvements and associated works, refurbishment and upgrade of the drawdown facility, and landscaping and mitigation works required due to its sensitive setting.