Equans to run £6.7m Flood Innovation Programme in North East Lincolnshire
North East Lincolnshire Council has been awarded a share of £6.7m to develop innovative solutions to flood and coastal resilience in the community, which will be run by the council’s regeneration partner, Equans.
Equans was named North East Lincolnshire Council’s (NELC) regeneration partner in 2010, and has been providing specialist advice, regeneration and infrastructure services on the council’s behalf ever since.
This new programme is funded by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) as part of the £150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which has been awarded to 25 flood risk management projects.
This funding is shared with Doncaster Council and a partnership between both councils, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water has been formed in order to tackle surface water flooding in the urban environment, where there is very little scope for large scale flood storage works.
New alternative solutions are required in the built environment and this project will be trialling a range of sustainable drainage retrofit techniques within the highway and around local schools to help mitigate against flooding, increase flood resilience and to enhance the local environment.
Andy Smith, Equans project lead on the North East Lincolnshire contract, said: “We are excited to be working on this vital project to help become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change within our local area. The lessons we will gather from this six-year programme will be used to help inform future approaches for investment in flood and coastal risk management.”
Anglian Water will work in partnership with North East Lincolnshire Council and its regeneration partner Equans. Jonathan Glerum, Anglian Water’s regional flood risk manager, added: “We are thrilled this funding is coming to North East Lincolnshire. It is the cumulation of a number of years’ hard work with our partners at the council, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the difference this project will make to how we manage flood risk and enhance the environment collaboratively across the council’s area.”
The project will run for six years and will be managed by the Environment Agency.
About Equans
Equans is a market leader in the sector with 74,000 employees leveraging 200 years of expertise. With revenues of €12 billion, Equans is present in 17 countries - mostly across Europe, but also with significant interests in North America, Latin America and Australia.
In the UK & Ireland, Equans is a provider of technical, FM, regeneration and energy services – with specialist capabilities in smart buildings, green mobility, district & embedded energy and decentralised renewables.
