Humberside police HQ to be flood-proofed

Humberside Police headquarters will be the first major public building in Hull to be completely flood resistant.

Capita Symonds' Sheffield office has won a major contract to oversee the £800,000 project to protect the building from flooding.

The headquarters took the full brunt of last year's floods with over 200 staff having to be relocated and prisoners evacuated from cells into temporary accommodation.

After the floods receded, the single storey building had to be completely refurbished. This cost formed a large part of Humberside Police's £2.2M floods insurance claim. The police HQ was reopened 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.

Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) Alan Leaver said: "Hull is prone to flood and this site is very prone to flooding. It is vulnerable in the future unless we take some fairly dramatic action, which we have in mind. Most of the reports are saying it is a one-in-150-year occurrence but we want to be sure our building will be safe in future."