Schools on stilts?

WORKING TO ENSURE FLOOD PROTECTION

22 September 2007

Schools in Hull at risk of flooding could be built on raised sites or even stilts in future.

Plans for new schools in the city could involve flood-proofing the sites to prevent them being damaged by severe weather.

City schools were badly hit by June's floods, with just eight out of 99 sites unaffected.

Many were under several feet of flood water and only a massive reconstruction programme over the summer saw schools hold lessons again earlier this month.

David Martin, director of Building Schools For The Future (BSF) programme, said: "When we build new schools through the BSF plans, we'll do our level best to make sure this time they won't be damaged by floods."

At the latest Hull City Council flooding recovery committee, he said there were a number of ways to improve flood resistance.

He said these included school sites being raised using soil and rocks, or the school being built on raised footings, with the damp-proof course above ground level.

Hull would not be the first local authority to build flood-resistant schools.

Brigg Primary School in North Lincolnshire, which sits in the flood area of the River Ancholme, was opened in January this year.

It sits on a 7.5ft stilted platform, raising the site 29ft above the surrounding fields.

Environment Agency experts believe this eliminates the risk of flooding.

But Mr Martin said this design will not work everywhere.

He said: "I know of a number of schools built on stilts, but it does cause some engineering difficulties."

Sydney Smith School was the worst-affected secondary in Hull in terms of flood damage.

The First Lane school in Anlaby, was under 4ft of water and all 104 ground-floor rooms were damaged.

Headteacher Kevin Beaton thanked "a supreme team effort" in getting the school open again for the new term earlier this month.

At the meeting, Hull City Council's finance director Michael Hudson suggested in future, playing fields surrounding schools could also effectively form flood plains, drawing rain water away from nearby residential properties.

This would mean the school would have to be able to withstand the impact of a flood.

Mr Martin said: "It absolutely could protect homes given that Hull is built extensively on a flood plain, but we'd have to look at this carefully.

The council is currently in the process of assessing the flood risk of all schools in the area.

"We want to make sure that if we have a lot of rain the schools won't get damaged again, but at the same time we don't want to spend huge amounts on damaged schools only to close them in the future," said Mr Martin.

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