A £3m project to improve Benson Lock near Wallingford has won an industry award.

In January, Environment Agency staff lowered two five-tonne steel gates into place as part of the improvement scheme.

The project has won an Environmental Engineering Award in the Thames Valley Engineering Excellence Awards, run by the Institute of Civll Engineers.

After the winners were announced earlier this month, Environment Agency technical advisor Andrew Robinson said: “We are very proud to get this award. The project presented a number of significant engineering and environmental challenges, complicated further by a limited amount of time available to close the lock and carry out the work.

“The team involved responded superbly and hosted a number of site visits to showcase the work to residents, boaters and engineers.”

Work started on the site at Benson Lock near Wallingford in November and in January a 100-tonne crane lifted the new gates into position.

The lock is popular with boaters who use the Thames and more than 8,000 passed through it last year.

The new gates were needed because the old timber gates, fitted in the 1970s, were no longer working properly.