£250,000 invested in flood defences to protect village

A house builder has invested £250,000 into the development of flood defences to protect a Huddersfield village from future flooding.

SB Homes, which is currently developing a 70-home site, Empire Works, close to the village centre, created the flood defence system.

Made up of underground pipes and storage chambers, the scheme is designed to divert excess groundwater into the underground system, during periods of heavy rainfall.

This will reduce the rate at which surface water enters sewers and Huddersfield Narrow Canal, minimising the risk of downstream flooding. The water would then be released from the system slowly over a period of time.

Weaving underneath the Empire Works development, the 1km of pipes have been installed alongside natural drainage, such as trees and open green spaces.

The £250,000 investment is a move to protect property and people from flood risk, after Crimble Clough – an area of the village – was flooded on Boxing Day in 2015.

The storage system was designed by civil engineering firm Haigh Huddleston and completed by a team of SB Homes’ ground workers over 12 months.

Stephen Byram, SB Homes’ managing director, said: “This system has been an integral part of the planning and design of Empire Works. There’s a network of drains and compartments which have been civilly-engineered to redirect and store rainwater, which prevents flooding downstream.

“The Environment Agency issued a warning recently that flooding will become more common in the UK. As local house builders, it is important to us to help protect the communities that we develop in. This flood system is a specialist scheme, with a considerable amount of investment from SB Homes, which we believe will benefit the local area for many years to come.”

Once Empire Works is completed, Yorkshire Water will adopt the scheme as part of its ongoing flood management programme.