It was established to deal with “looser boundary” problems such as coastal erosion, flood protection and the silting and scouring of rivers, estuaries and harbours.
[2] 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.
[3] The Thames barrier was designed by Rendel, Palmer and Tritton for the Greater London Council and tested at Hydraulics Research Station.
In 2021, with the Witherby Publishing Group, the company launched an LNG carrier mooring tool called SHIPMOOR.
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).