Central Street Infant and Nursery School: Flood Resilience Scheme

Client:               Department for Education / Central Street Infant and Nursery School

Industry:          Education

Location:         Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

Case Study at a Glance

After experiencing multiple floods, including major events in 2015 and 2020, Central Street Infant & Nursery School in Hebden Bridge has had a bespoke Property Flood Resilience (PFR) scheme designed and installed by Watertight International.  

The completed scheme focused on better protecting multiple access points across the building and integrated flood resistance, internal resilience, drainage protection and early-warning measures to minimise flood risk.

The Challenge

Hebden Bridge has a long history of flooding. The town sits where Hebden Water meets the River Calder and heavy rainfall has repeatedly affected homes, businesses and schools across the area, over the years. 

Central Street Infant and Nursery School experienced significant flooding, including during the Boxing Day floods of 2015 and more recently in 2020.  For the school, flooding has meant more than damage to a building. It disrupts a place that pupils, staff and local families rely on.

The school building is a large multi-wing structure with multiple entrance points, historic building fabric, low ground floor thresholds and complex drainage routes. These factors created several potential pathways for floodwater to enter the building; through door openings, drainage backflow, service penetrations and surface water runoff.

The project required a comprehensive PFR solution that would protect the building envelope, manage internal water intrusion, and prevent drainage backflow. It also had to be delivered safely, ensuring minimal disruption to the live school environment during installation.

Our Approach

Watertight developed a multi-layered flood resilience strategy, combining resistance, preparedness and drainage management measures.

A detailed site assessment identified 11 key building access points requiring attention, along with drainage vulnerabilities and internal water management needs. The assessment informed a coordinated scheme covering external barriers, drainage protection, internal flood resilience, surface water management, as well as flood preparedness.

Flood Resistance Measures:

• 11 demountable aluminium flood barriers for key door openings.

• Barriers designed to 900mm protection height.

• Sealing and repointing of the building fabric, to better protect against water ingress.

Internal Flood Resilience:

• 13 automatic puddle pumps installed internally to remove water entering the building.

• 1 sump pump installed in the lift shaft to manage groundwater and internal flooding.

Drainage Protection:

• Installation of non-return valves (NRVs) across the drainage system to help prevent floodwater backing up through sewer connections.

 Flood Preparedness

• Integration with the Resilico digital flood alert and monitoring platform, providing the school with early warning capability and a flood response plan.

 Sustainable Drainage

·       Installation of sustainable planters across the school site to capture rainwater from downpipes, reduce the amount of surface water entering the drainage system during wet weather conditions, and also provide the opportunity for children to plant flowers, fruits and vegetables as part of their learning.

With careful planning and coordination by the Watertight project management team, the school was able to remain operational throughout the installation process.

With the nature of the school environment, this required full site inductions, safeguarding protocols, enhanced DBS checks for operatives, controlled work zones to protect pupils and staff, and installation sequencing to minimise disruption to teaching spaces.

Results

The project has significantly improved the school’s ability to remain operational during flood events. The installed measures not only help to reduce flood damage to internal infrastructure but also supports faster recovery following extreme weather.

The scheme demonstrates a layered resilience approach by combining traditional flood resistance measures, internal water management systems, drainage engineering solutions and digital flood preparedness tools.

This integrated strategy ensures that if water were to overflow the external barriers, the internal resilience measures would reduce the impact and support quicker recovery.

In all, the completed scheme delivered a comprehensive flood resilience solution for the school, delivering:

• 11 flood barriers across key access points.

• 13 automated pump systems providing internal flood management.

• Drainage system better protected from backflow flooding.

• Surface water reduction installed to minimise runoff pressure.

• Resilico flood alerts and a tailored flood plan, which provides early warning capabilities and a structured action plan.

The overall project has strengthened not only strengthened resilience for the staff working at the school, but also the children and their families. The system has been designed to help reduce any future disruption caused by flood events, supports community resilience and, importantly, the continuity of education for the pupils, while also giving peace of mind to all.

Together, the resistance, drainage and early warning measures give the school a coordinated approach against future flood risks and a stronger basis for rapid recovery.

Mark Arrowsmith, Commercial Director, Watertight International:

“This project at Central Street Infant and Nursery School reflects our commitment to creating flood resilience measures that are designed around the needs of the communities they serve. Through close collaboration and a focus on preparedness and recovery, we have helped to improve building’s resilience and also given the staff, children and parents greater reassurance about what will happen when flooding threatens the area in the future.”