Flood Prevention for UK Highways
Protect UK highways from the damaging effects of flooding.
There are nearly 250,000 miles of roads in the UK, and these represent a large amount of impermeable area where rainfall cannot follow a natural route back into the water cycle and must run off into either sewers or local watercourses.
This surface water needs to be managed effectively to ensure road safety and reduce flooding impacts - here's how.
Control and attenuate surface water flows to prevent flooding
Surface water runoff from roads and highways must be drained efficiently to avoid deep surface ponding that would be unsafe to drive through, but at the same time it must be controlled so that it doesn’t cause flooding to other areas.
For highway engineers, the selection of a flow control can seem a very small part of an overall drainage design, but it can have a significant effect on the performance of the system.
Choosing the right flow control can provide benefits such as a reduction in the amount of storage required, a reduced risk of blockage or a reduction in the drain down time for storage areas, ensuring that the system is ready for subsequent storm events.
Flexible installation options can also help to reduce installation time making it safer for roadside workers.
How we can help
We have over 40 years’ experience in controlling surface water flows and our range of Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls have been developed and designed with performance, plug-and-play installation and easy maintenance in mind.
Our Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls can provide effective control and our Stormcell® and Stormbloc® Optimum modular geocellular storage and infiltration systems can store the excess flood water until it can be released back into the surrounding ground or discharge downstream at a safe and controlled rate.
We have a range of precision-engineered Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls so that engineers can select the most appropriate and best performing for a given scheme.
We are also able to deliver solutions for Pollution Prevention, Flood Warning, and Weather Monitoring for UK Highways
Hydro-Brake® Optimum, our most popular and widely used vortex flow control, is precision-engineered. Each unit is custom made to help meet differing site objectives, such as to reduce the amount of storage volume required or with larger orifice size to provide a reduced risk of blockage.
The Hydro-Brake® Optimum also has a future-proof option which can provide a flow rate adjustment of plus or minus 10%.
Our Hydro-Brake® Optimum is the only vortex flow control which is BBA and WRc approved for design and performance. Find out more about Hydro-Brake® Optimum.
Design your own Hydro-Brake® Optimum flow control with our online design tool: hydro-int.design
Our Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls can be delivered pre-installed in a concrete chamber as a "plug-and-play" unit which is ready for rapid and easy installation, reducing the amount of time spent at the roadside and improving CDM requirements.
> Request a UK 3D model of the Hydro-Brake® Optimum for use with UK Building Information Modelling (BIM)
Stormbloc® Optimum range
Our Stormbloc® Optimum range comprises two resilient geocellular storage systems that provide underground storage and infiltration of surface water runoff; Stormbloc® Extra and Stormbloc®, plus an inspection chamber, the Stormbloc® Inspect.
The lightweight materials, combined with robust design make them easy to transport, quick to install and extremely durable. With an optimum-strength option for high-traffic areas and a lighter option for landscape and low-traffic areas, the Stormbloc® Optimum range provides a space-saving solution for many applications.
is a resilient geocellular storage system that provides underground storage and infiltration for surface water runoff. Lightweight materials combined with robust design make it easy to transport, quick to install and extremely durable, even beneath high-traffic areas such as roads, car parks and warehouse yards. All systems can be installed with fully inspectable chambers including the option of a sand trap to manage sediment build-up in the tank. With Hydro-Logic® Smart Monitoring, levels for both flow and sediment build-up can be detected, triggering alerts for maintenance and reducing the cost of unnecessary inspection visits.
Stormcell® storage system
Stormcell® is a high-capacity, low-maintenance modular stormwater and surface water storage system, which is light but strong, making it ideal for use beneath areas such as roads, car parks and industrial areas. With a design that ensures that solids are washed through the pipework rather than into the storage area, the system requires very little maintenance.
Book a CPD presentation for Sustainable Drainage for Highways
Find out how our solutions can help you control flows and remove pollution from highway runoff. Book a training presentation for you and your colleagues
