Why Sheffield Forgemasters has bought a parcel of land to prevent flooding

Sheffield Forgemasters has purchased a 4,300 sq ft parcel of land adjacent to the River Don to install a high powered pumping station to prevent flooding.
Lizzie Murphy
By Lizzie Murphy
Published 15th Mar 2023, 17:16 BST

The site, on the junction between Brightside Lane and Weedon Street, will house a water pumping station to connect Bagley Brook, which runs through a culvert beneath the company’s site into the River Don, dramatically reducing the brook’s liability to breach, it said.

The initiative is part of the company’s site-wide recapitalisation programme, which will see significant investment in defence critical assets, and is predicted to radically reduce the burden on the Victorian culvert, which has been a point of flooding at Brightside Lane.

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Steve Marshall, manufacturing transformation director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “The new pumping station will make a vast difference to issues which have previously caused flooding at Brightside Lane, protecting our site and reducing the volume of water that can breach onto public road surfaces.”

Sheffield ForgemastersSheffield Forgemasters
Sheffield Forgemasters

The pumping station will be sunk into a seven metre concrete pit, 10 metres wide and 11 long, housing three pumps capable of pumping 240,000 litres of water per minute to relieve the burden on the culvert.

The pumping station will complement a range of other flood prevention measures at Sheffield Forgemasters, including revisions to drainage and new, higher-based buildings to house plant.

Work is expected to start early in 2024.

Related topics:WorkVictorian