HR Wallingford was previously the Hydraulics Research Station (HRS). It was created by the UK

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

in 1947. The Research Station was based in Wallingford, near Oxford. It was established to deal with “looser boundary” problems such as

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...

, flood protection and the silting and scouring of rivers, estuaries and harbours. The Hydraulics Research Station was housed at

Howbery Park Howbery Park is a 36-ha park located adjacent to the River Thames in Crowmarsh Gifford near Wallingford, UK. Its main feature is an English manor house built in about 1850 by Member of Parliament (MP) William Seymour Blackstone. Blackstone fell ...

as a government establishment until 1982, when it was privatised from the Department of the Environment to become Hydraulics Research Station Limited. It is known as HR Wallingford. During its existence, HRS contributed to advance hydraulics research. It also worked on water-related projects in the UK and around the world.

Brief history

1945 - The Institution of Civil Engineers submitted a proposal to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research on the need for a hydraulics research station in the UK. 1947 – DSIR Hydraulic Research Organisation formed in London 1951 – Hydraulics Research Station established in Wallingford 1965 – Re-organisation into Ministry of Technology. Hydrological Research Unit transferred to the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geog ...

and later to become Institute of Hydrology and then

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is a centre for excellence in environmental science across water, land and air. The organisation has a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change, and its science ma ...

1971 – Transfer to the Department of the Environment 1982 – Privatisation to create Hydraulics Research Station Limited - a company limited by guarantee. 1983 – Hydraulics Research Limited 1991 - HR Wallingford Limited

Projects in the UK

Thames Estuary

HRS started doing research in the tidal

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

in 1947. At this time HRO (Hydraulic Research Organisation) was based at the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington and had links with a large physical model set up by the Port of London Authority (PLA) in one of their disused warehouses on the Surrey Docks. This model was used to examine many hydrodynamic, sediment, water quality and morphological issues related to the Thames Estuary and the potential redevelopment of the Estuary following the considerable infrastructure damage that had been suffered during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Many of the issues examined and the techniques developed in this pre-computer age formed a remarkably good base from which the modern range and scope of studies have been developed. This has determined the framework for an understanding of the many processes that operate within the tidal Thames Estuary.

Thames Barrier

In 1968 of hydraulic studies were funded to understand how a barrier across the Thames would affect the levels of the river and change the movement of silt, although at that time no particular site had been chosen. This would lead to the creation of stations to monitor the measure and the studies were not complete until 1981. The

Thames barrier The Thames Barrier is a retractable barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. When needed, it is c ...

was designed by Rendel, Palmer and Tritton for the Greater London Council and tested at Hydraulics Research Station.

Shipmoor

In 2021, with the

Witherby Publishing Group Witherby Publishing Group, formerly known as Witherby Seamanship, is a technical publisher of maritime, nautical and navigation training, reference and regulatory materials. The company is the resulting merger of Witherby Books and Seamansh ...

, the company launched an

LNG carrier An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). History The first LNG carrier '' Methane Pioneer'' () carrying , classed by Bureau Veritas, left the Calcasieu River on the Louisiana Gulf coast on 25 January ...

mooring A mooring is any permanent structure to which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to forestall free movement of the ship on the water. An ''an ...

tool called ''SHIPMOOR''.

HRS and Institute of Hydrology -1965

HRS established the Hydrological Research Unit for the purpose of River catchment research and engineering and co-operation with other government offices such as the : - Soil Survey of England and Wales (JP Bell) - the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, - the River Authority (1963 Act). The work expanded greatly after the 1968 flood in Somerset from such actions as the Plynlimon Hafren and Gwy forest and grassland catchments of 1965 under the auspices of James McCulloch (civil engineering) and John C Rodda (hydrometerology and catchments), to operate several units Northumberland, Thetford, Plynlimon, and was moved to Crowmarsh Gifford as the Institute of Hydrology, in part concerning itself with a mass Flood analysis using existing River Authority data (1975). The Institute is now the

, part of the

References

Hydraulics

External links

HR Wallingford Limited
{{Authority control Hydrology organizations Research institutes in Oxfordshire Wallingford, Oxfordshire Research stations