High flood level solutions at the River Great Ouse

Webb’s Hole Pumping Station

A complex, environmentally-conscious endeavour delivered on time and below budget—that’s the £1 million Webb’s Hole Pumping Station project. Our design and project management team facilitated £3 million of savings against the stakeholder’s initial estimates for the project, a project which was critical to prevent flooding in the new town of Northstowe.

Part of the Swavesey Drain includes a system that becomes locked by a sluice door at times of high flood levels at the confluence with the River Great Ouse downstream. The need? A new pumping station at Webb’s Hole that would lift flows from the upstream side of the sluice to the downstream/tidal side when the River Great Ouse is in flood. The new pumping station, along with additional upgrades to the watercourse, provided mitigation for the discharge of treated effluent from up to 10,000 homes in Cambourne and Northstowe, which led to an expansion of the water recycling centre at Utton’s Drove.

The new system provides one cubic metre per second of fish-friendly flow to compensate for planned increases in treated effluent at the Utton's Drove treatment works. With the 2015 commissioning of the pump station, these discharges ensured the acceptance of the planning applications for the new town of Northstowe, making sure high flood levels would not affect the community.