Owen Mumford Flooding Solutions

Situated between the Oxfordshire Market Towns of Chipping Norton and Woodstock , Owen Mumford is a global leader in medical device design and manufacture. Owned by two families – the Owens and the Mumfords - the company employs hundreds of staff members between their two locations, making them one of Oxfordshire’s biggest private sector employers.  SOLID’s civil team was recently appointed by Owen Mumford’s Chipping Norton branch to formulate a plan in which to help minimise the risk of flooding. This location has been subjected to flooding throughout its lifetime. 

Surface Water Run off

The warehouse, on Chipping Norton’s Primrose Industrial Estate, is at a medium risk of flooding and that flooding is caused by surface water run off from the surrounding terrain as soon as there is significant rainfall. Surface water runoff occurs when rainwater, stormwater or meltwater arrives faster than the ground can absorb it. This is generally due to the ground already being heavily saturated, but can also be due to impervious areas, such as pavements, preventing natural run off from taking place.

SOLID’s Approach

Using the data from the existing topographical survey and historical photographs of site flooding, SOLID’s civil engineers were able to estimate a flood contribution area and determine the flood water volume. Based on discussions with the client, it was established that a 1:5 storm event best represented the flooding of the access road, staff parking and building entrance scenario. 

With these critical pieces of information, SOLID’s civil engineers were able to build a hydraulic model which was used to simulate the current flooding occurring on site. The hydraulic model results reflected the initial flood water volume value and accounted for the overflow of any flood water further downstream (As observed by the client).

In order to alleviate the on site flooding, a surface drainage network has been designed to accommodate a 1:100 + 40% climate change storm event. This network was hydraulically modelled to accurately size the pipe network and soakaway. 

Do you have a location which is subject to flooding? Why not contact our SOLID Civils team to discuss drainage strategies for your site.