In December 2015, Storm Desmond brought significant flooding to parts of Cumbria causing damage to a huge number of properties. 11 buildings owned by Carlisle City Council were affected including, the Civic Centre in the heart of the City.
Having worked in the region for over 30 years from their base in Cockermouth, Tetra Tech was ideally placed to support the council in tackling the damage that Storm Desmond caused. Initially this was in an advisory role, assessing the size of the problem across all sites before project managing the refurbishment and remediation of the buildings to bring them back into operation.
As the most complex of the projects, the Civic Centre was the final element to be worked on, completing in 2022. A pivotal building for the city, our task was to design, procure and deliver a facility not only to reduce the risk of future flooding but also remodelled to provide a modern space which would benefit the local community. This included the demolition of the old chambers, an extension to the car park, a new customer contact centre and, new meeting rooms and office space.
Untangling a massive and complex heritage site
Taking into account the likelihood of flooding in the future the materials used in the lower floors facilitate a clean-up to be quickly mobilised so that the building can be made operational again at minimal cost and as soon as possible. Mechanical and electrical components were moved to higher spaces, again to protect them from water damage.
This project was a real collaborative effort from the teams at Tetra Tech bringing together the expertise of 10 different disciplines to help make it happen including, planning, health & safety, building surveying, mechanical & electrical engineering, structural engineering, civil engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, geospatial surveying and fire safety.
Darren Crossley, Deputy Chief Executive at Carlisle City Council commented ‘The 2015 floods had a huge impact on communities in Carlisle and the Council faced the challenge of recovering nine of its most significant operational assets. Tetra Tech provided valuable support to the Council, creating a flood recovery framework for procuring redevelopment works and assisting the Council with the re-design and re-development of the Civic Centre. We now have a re-purposed property with some great new facilities. We are grateful to Tetra Tech for helping to make this happen.’
Craig Hatch, President, Tetra Tech commented ‘There is an enormous amount of drive from our people to make a difference in the communities where we live and work and so for our regional teams this was more than just a project. We are proud to have played a part in the reinstatement and regeneration of these important buildings.
