Yorkshire firm creates county's first flood adaptive caravan that rises above waters

Engineers from North Yorkshire's Flood Technology Group have installed what they say is the county's first flood adaptive caravan, which can escape waters by elevating.

The Great Heck-based business, which operates a manufacturing site in Snaith, has developed a mechanical jack system that’s designed to detect and react to flood conditions by raising caravans and holiday lodges up. The first of these platforms has been installed at a caravan park Stamford Bridge, East Yorkshire.

It has allowed Weir Caravan Park, which is built on an island on the River Derwent, to get flood insurance cover through Compass, which specialises in the holiday park sector and has endorsed the firm's technology. The mechanical system has already been successfully installed at another riverside holiday site in Warwickshire, and can be applied to other modular buildings and holiday lodges.

Simon Gilliland, chief executive of Flood Technology Group, said: “We have our headquarters here in Yorkshire, so it’s great to be working on our first climate resilience project in our home county and we’re delighted to be able to assist the team at Weir Caravan Park. Our Flood Adaptive Platform has already been successfully applied to modular buildings and mobile homes/holiday lodges, but its potential is limitless, across the globe and across many different sectors.

“With so many holiday parks located in riverside or coastal areas, our changing climate means that the level of flood risk that they face is growing rapidly. For example, according to the latest projections by Natural Resources Wales, between 2024 and 2120, the number of caravans in Wales at high risk of flooding from rivers will increase by 68% and the number at high risk of flooding from the sea is set to rise by an astonishing 795%.

“Although we’re still in the process of analysing the latest corresponding data for England, we’re fully anticipating it to paint a similar picture. This explains why we’ve had such a huge amount of interest from holiday park owners around the UK.”

Kevin Hind of Weir Caravan Park, said: “As a riverside holiday park, knowing that Compass will insure our caravans once we’ve installed Flood Technology Group’s innovative products gives us peace of mind. Our close proximity to the river is one of the main reasons that people enjoy visiting our caravan park but, with climate change increasing the level of flood risk that we face here in the UK, it was important to future-proof our business.