With this in mind, the Construction Industry Research Association (CIRIA) has launched a new project looking at potential use of alternatives to aggregates in coastal and river engineering, the primary aim of which is to reduce the impact of river and coastal engineering by promoting the use of alternative materials in place of primary aggregates.

CIRIA says guidance resulting from the project will provide more sustainable and cost effective solutions for river and coastal engineering, list the available materials, assess their suitability for use in the surrounding environment and identify the technical and processing barriers to their use. It will also contain case studies and make recommendations for future research to enhance the use of alternative aggregates.

The project, CIRIA project RP687, got underway this summer, and is being funded by the UK DTI, The Crown Estate Office, CIRIA Core, and contractor Van Oord ACZ, and is being carried out by HR Wallingford.

CIRIA has asked that if any contractors working in the field have any examples of the use of alternatives to aggregates in coastal or river engineering it would be grateful to receive details for use as case study examples.