Flood protection

30 July 2008

Capita Symonds’ Sheffield office recently won a major contract to oversee an £800,000 project to protect Humberside Police headquarters from flooding.

The Priory Road station will now become the first major public building in Hull to be completely flood resistant.

The headquarters were struck by last year’s floods and over 200 staff had to relocate. Prisoners were also evacuated from cells into temporary accommodation.

Following the flood the single-storey building had to be completely refurbished – the cost of which formed a large part of Humberside Police’s £2.2m floods insurance claim - before re-opening in March.

The Capita Symonds team, led by associate director, Tim Major, is providing geotechnical, hydrological, hydrogeological, engineering, cost management and project management services for the police authority, which will be putting the construction contract out to tender in August so work can begin in the winter.

The scheme involves building a perimeter earth bund around the site, the construction of underground surface water attenuation systems and an above ground balancing pond.