River Restoration Optioneering & Detailed Design

River Restoration Designs - More than just technical drawings

Do you need assistance with your river or stream enhancement or restoration project? We can support from early optioneering to CDM-compliant detailed design packages. Detailed designs are crafted in-house using CAD software, alongside analysis conducted in ArcGIS Pro. We offer specialist river restoration consultancy.

River restoration designs are more than just technical drawings; they’re carefully considered plans that help rivers recover their natural flow, form, and function. Whether it’s remeandering a straightened channel, reconnecting floodplains, adding woody material, or creating better habitats for wildlife, good design ensures your project is practical, sustainable, and fully aligned with environmental regulations.

These designs are often essential. They help you secure permits, unlock funding, and ensure that your efforts deliver real, measurable benefits for biodiversity, water quality, flood and climate resilience

Tell us about your river restoration vision

River Restoration Feasibility & Optioneering

We start by taking your vision, or project aims and compiling all relevant information to understand what’s possible. This typically involves a detailed, desk-based assessment, supported by geospatial mapping and analysis. From there, we’ll often walk the site or wider catchment, speak with landowners, and engage local stakeholders. You’ll receive the findings in a format that works for you, whether that’s a clear report, visual drawings, or interactive web maps.

Outline and Detailed Design

Most projects need a detailed design to move forward. We produce everything needed for contractors and regulatory consent. As CDM designers, we build risk reduction into every stage. Our drawings are created in-house, with input from geomorphology and engineering experts where needed, all to make sure your scheme works on the ground.

Consenting & Compliance

We’ll guide you through the permissions process, securing the proper regulatory consents from local authorities, the Environment Agency, and Natural England. This includes everything from Flood Risk Activity Permits (FRAP) and Environmental Risk Analysis to Water Framework Directive compliance and Method Statements.

At FLOW CIC, we create restoration designs that are grounded in science, tailored to you, and built to work for both people and nature. Every river is different, and so is every design we deliver.

How can we add value to your project?

Our experience in the practical delivery of River Restoration means that buildability is at the core of our designs.
Our design process considers sustainability and the environmental impact of construction. We always strive to minimise the movement of materials on and off-site.
We have extensive experience working on chalk rivers, but we also work on all other types of rivers.
In many cases, we are happy to work with your team to co-design projects, which can be a useful upskilling exercise, particularly for smaller charities.
Our lead designer, Maddie Crabb, is a registered member of the River Restoration Centre and a member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environment Management (CIWEM)
We are experienced in delivering river restoration for Biodiversity Net Gain, see XX services.