A leading engineering consultancy is helping to restore a "missing mile" of canal.

Rodgers Leask is working on the Cotswold Canals Connected project, which aims to restore a section of the Stroudwater Navigation that was filled in during the creation of the M5 motorway in the 1960s.

The project is the largest and most complex National Heritage Lottery Funded project in the South West.

The company's civil, structural, and geo-environmental engineering teams are designing a replacement aqueduct to allow the canal to cross Oldbury Brook again.

The teams are also developing the John Robinson Lock and components such as a triple pipe culvert arrangement and protective cover slab.

The consultancy has designed retaining walls using modular bag units to allow charity volunteers to participate in construction.

By simplifying material choices, they aim to keep construction costs low while maintaining high standards.

Dave Bathurst, regional director for the company in Bristol, said: "The solutions being developed are a blend of technicality and practicality, which wouldn’t be possible without determined coordination and collaboration with Cotswold Canal Connected and enthusiasm for design excellence within our team.

"At the heart of this project is a sense of social value that will be returned to an impressive but long forgotten connection to our industrial past.

"Once restored the canal will take on a new, but no less important purpose, as an amenity for local people.

"Trading its initial use for transporting coal and other important goods, for one that will facilitate leisure and tourism."

The "missing mile" is a part of the second phase of the Cotswold Canals Connected project.

It promises numerous benefits for the region, including the creation of a new community-led wildlife corridor with conservation and biodiversity projects.

The restored canal is expected to become a tourist destination and boost the area's economy.

Chris Mitford-Slade, the project's manager, said: "The restoration of this section of the canal is an exciting step forward for both the local community and the environment.

"It will create a space that blends heritage and habitat for the benefit of all."