From jamie.goodwin@hullcc.gov.uk | Monday 2 March 2020
Ark, a project led by the University of Hull and Humberside Fire & Rescue Service, is set to be a world-first of its kind.
Plans have been revealed for a multi-million-pound National Flood Resilience Centre in the Humber region.
Ark, a project led by the University of Hull and Humberside Fire & Rescue Service, is set to be a world-first of its kind.
Ark will provide the emergency services and responders with a controlled environment for simulated training in both urban and rural flood events.
It will include a full-scale 120-metre-long street and a water rapids course.
The facility in North Lincolnshire will be a base for world-leading research and innovation, focused on enhancing business, societal and community resilience to flooding.
It comes as the globe faces a climate change-induced doubling of flood risk by 2050.
The centre will act as a catalyst for the future co-location of other leading flood innovation and research.
A joint bid has been submitted for Ark by the University of Hull and Humberside Fire & Rescue Service, backed by North Lincolnshire Council, and discussions have been held at the highest levels in Government to support the new centre.
Professor Dan Parsons, director of the Energy and Environment Institute at the University of Hull, said: “The impacts of climate change are being seen right now.
“The devastating impact of storms Ciara and Dennis over recent weeks highlight the need for greater understanding and more effective responses and recovery to severe flood events.
“Ark will prove to be a game-changer in how we tackle and recover from these events, which are only going to get worse as we suffer the consequences of climate change.
“It is about becoming more resilient to flooding as a society. We need to learn to get wet better and Ark will help us do that.”
In the UK, 5.2 million homes and businesses are at risk of flooding.
The Environment Agency has also recognised a national shortfall in the high-level skills needed to plan and adapt to our changing climate.
Ark will support a suite of education programmes aimed at addressing this gap, including a new Masters programme in Flood Risk Management at the university from September 2020.
