Hull and
high water
An ambitious plan to build a
lagoon in the Humber estuary
promises to protect the city
of Hull from flooding, ease its
chronic traffic problems, and
supercharge the local economy.
Jon Excell reports.
From the giant and much celebrated suspension
bridge linking the counties of Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire; to the assorted oil refineries, power
stations and wind turbine factories that line
its banks, the Humber estuary is no stranger to
impressive feats of engineering.
But a newly proposed flood defence project
for the region - Lagoon Hull - could, it’s proponents claim,
ultimately become the most ambitious and impactful
engineering project of them all.
Hull is of huge economic importance to the UK. Alongside
its existing industrial footprint it has, in recent years, become
a key hub for the UKs rapidly growing offshore wind industry
and is regarded as a critical gateway to Europe for the so-called
Northern Powerhouse.
But the city - 90 percent of which stands below the hightide
line - is also unusually vulnerable to coastal flooding,
May 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 20
in the Humber estuary, explained that
the heart of the proposal - which is
expected to cost around £1.5bn – is a
six mile wall in the Humber estuary
that will create a calm water lagoon to
protect the city from flooding and open
up a new waterside area. Giant lock gates
will be used to impound water and let
shipping and boats in and out, and a new
four lane road running along the top of
the wall will re-route traffic out of the
city’s notoriously congested centre. The
concept also includes the construction
of an outer harbor to support the regions’
rapidly growing offshore energy sector.
It is, said Hatley - who estimates that
the scheme could create upto 19000 jobs
and add as much as £1bn GDA to the
region - much more than a simple flood
defence project. “If you put all of those
things together what you end up with is
a new outer harbor to support the port
and the offshore renewables, you address
tidal flooding, and you address. transport
connectivity. It’s an infrastructure
project that has multiple outcomes.”
It’s still early days for the project.
A number of what Hatley terms “pre-
C i v i l e n g i n e e r i n g
and the damage caused by tidal surges
has been a regular feature over the
decades. Most recently, in December
2013, a record tidal surge on the east
coast, came within centimetres of
breaching the city’s existing flood
barrier, and devastated the nearby port
of Immingham, a key site for UK oil and
gas imports. And with similar events
expected in the future, city planners
are understandably concerned about
the increased impact of such events as
sea-levels rise.
Officially launched last year (2019)
Lagoon Hull began life as a direct
response to this continuing threat.
But according to the team behind the
project - a mix of local business leaders
and engineers - it quickly became
apparent that it could deliver a triple
whammy of benefits for the city: not
only alleviating flooding concerns,
but also addressing chronic traffic
congestion problems, and driving
economic growth.
Project manager Paul Hatley, a civil
engineer with over two decades of
experience of building infrastructure
/www.theengineer.co.uk