Making sure there’s no disruption to wildlife is a key concern for 4D and Southern Water and our ecologists make sure that any wildlife issues are dealt with safely and carefully to ensure that rare species are protected and conserved.

When the team working on repairs at Robertsbridge Pumping Station in Sussex found bats roosting there, it was clear that a new home needed to be found for them before work could continue. Ecologists installed special bat boxes in a suitable location on the site to give the bats a place to roost so that the work could carry on.

At Brede Water Supply Works in Sussex the site team managed to act quickly to save four great crested newts which were trapped while trying to cross the site to shelter in nearby woodland for the winter. As the newts are a protected species, disturbing them without a licence is a criminal offence, but our ecologists were able to save them and they were soon released into a suitable habitat nearby.