Earthworks That Hold Water.

Often not full planning permission. Many farm reservoirs can be built under agricultural permitted development rights on holdings of 5 hectares or more, as long as the dug material stays on the farm, but you still need prior approval from your council before work starts.

Bigger schemes, or sites in sensitive places such as National Landscapes, may need full planning permission and sometimes an environmental assessment. National planning policy now names on-farm reservoirs as development councils should support. GOV.UK planning guidance

In England, a reservoir that can hold 25,000 cubic metres or more above the surrounding ground is a large raised reservoir under the Reservoirs Act 1975. It must be registered with the Environment Agency and designed and built under a panel engineer. We work alongside your panel engineer from the first strip to the final sign-off.

The limit may fall to 10,000 cubic metres, as it already has in Wales, so it pays to plan for that now. Our planner shows roughly how much of your water would sit above ground.

Usually, yes. Taking more than 20 cubic metres a day from a river, stream or borehole needs an Environment Agency licence, and filling in winter, when rivers can spare the water, is the usual route. A reservoir filled only with rainwater from roofs and hard surfaces doesn’t need one.

Talk to the Environment Agency early: in water-stressed catchments licences can take months and may be limited. GOV.UK abstraction guidance

It depends on your ground. A clay reservoir needs enough suitable clay on site and is long-lasting. Where the soil won’t hold water, a membrane liner does the job, but lined reservoirs need secure fencing and escape ladders, and liners typically last around 25 years.

We build both, and a site investigation tells you which suits your field. The 2026 Suffolk and Essex reservoir guide sets out the trade-offs well.

Every site is different, so we price from your drawings. As a guide, the 2026 Suffolk and Essex reservoir guide found that across 30 recently built reservoirs, clay-lined ones typically cost £2 to £3 per cubic metre of storage for the earthworks, and membrane-lined ones £2.50 to £4.50 including the liner.

Those figures leave out fees, site investigation, pumps, pipework and power, and larger reservoirs cost less per cubic metre than small ones.

It depends on size, soil and weather. At Heydon in 2026 the earthworks were finished in just over 26 days. Summer is the best time to build, because soil compacts best when it’s dry, so plan over the winter for a summer start.

Yes. Our machines go out with our own experienced operators, on short or long-term hire, or as part of a contract where we price the whole job. Call the office to talk through what you need and when.

Yes. Our dozers run Trimble GPS or laser, and the engineers we work with tell us the GPS 3D ground model control has been extremely helpful. Send us the model and drawings and we’ll price to them.

Our yard is at Langham, just north of Colchester, and most of our work is across Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. We work throughout the UK, from reservoirs in Suffolk to earthworks at Wantage and Salisbury.