A flagship flood risk management scheme worth £11.7 million has been awarded to GBV, a joint venture comprising Galliford Try and Black & Veatch.

Uniquely, Derby’s Our City Our River scheme partnership funding has been achieved by combining flood management with urban regeneration.

By creating three kilometres of flood defences GBV’s work will rejuvenate areas of Derby city centre currently underutilised because of insufficient flood protection.

“The scheme is about more than safeguarding people and property from flooding. It is also about re-establishing a positive relationship between Derby and its river by helping realise the economic potential of brownfield sites currently at risk of flooding,” according to Matthew Nott, a director at both the GBV jv and Black & Veatch.

Derby City Council awarded the £11.7 million design-and-build package to GBV under the Environment Agency’s Water & Environmental Management (WEM) Framework. The package is part of the Our City Our River scheme flood risk management scheme which runs along 13.5 kilometres of the River Derwent through the city of Derby and has a total value of £90 million. The EA and council worked closely to formulate the ambitious scheme which will be paid for in part through innovative partnership funding with developers.

When complete the investment will protect more than 1,450 homes and nearly 800 businesses, as well as key infrastructure, currently at risk during severe flood events.

“Our City Our River is essentially a complex series of sites which need to be considered as a single co-ordinated scheme,” Nott added. “As existing defences come to the end of their life, the approach in Derby is to realign defences away from the river to make space for water. This enhances the river’s biodiversity and contributes to the delivery of Water Framework Directive objectives.”