Stratford holiday park has high hopes for system to protect caravans from flooding
A HOLIDAY park boss chosen to test a new system that detects and responds to flood water, has hailed it as “a game-changer”.
The device, known as the flood adaptive platform, was retrofitted to two holiday lodges in Avon Park on the riverside, off Warwick Road.
The mechanical jack system sits underneath a caravan, lodge or home.
If the sensors detect rising flood water, the entire home is automatically lifted above water level, to a maximum of 2.1 metres, and stays there until it’s safe to go back down.
Avon Park on the Stratford Parks holiday home site and owned by Avon Estates, was chosen to pilot the scheme in the UK, as many of its holiday lodges and caravans are at risk of flooding.
The park, which straddles the river with many caravans and lodges, reached via Tiddington Road, has been flooded twice already this year.
Fortunately, when it flooded during the first week of January it was just days before the park was due to close for two months and owners were already moving out as the season runs from 7th March to 7th January.
The worst damage the business has faced was in the summer of 2007, when it lost 550 caravans to the flash-flooding that decimated many areas around the country.
Avon Estates director Nic Allen said: “We’re really excited by the potential that the Flood Adaptive Platform offers, particularly for riverside holiday parks like ours, where the close proximity to the water is a major draw for people.
“The fact that the technology could be retrofitted to an existing lodge with minimum disruption was a huge plus for us and we’re proud to be working in partnership with the Flood Technology Group to showcase the UK’s first flood adaptive holiday lodge.
“This type of technology really is a game-changer for the mobile home and holiday lodge sector.”
The system was invented by Andrew Parker, founder and director of Yorkshire-based Flood Technology Group and has taken 12 years to develop.
The patented technology has been rigorously tested in flood environments and Mr Parker has worked with Liverpool University and HR Wallingford in Oxfordshire, one of the largest indoor water testing facilities, in the world.
It’s also been tested on a three-bedroom detached house, although it works better with factory built homes.
The system can be fitted to lodges, caravans and even houses while they’re being manufactured or built, or retrofitted to some existing structures.
Flood Technology Group has a licence agreement in place with one of the UK’s biggest mobile home providers.
Mr Parker, whose background is in construction, started working on his idea after friends were flooded and he witnessed the heartbreak and consequences on their lives.
He said: “The feedback we’re getting so far from people has been fantastic.
“With something like 23 different types of mobile homes chassis out there, we had to make sure our flood adaptive platform can work with them all, which was a huge headache, but we've resolved all that.
“Nic Allen has an amazing business at Stratford Parks and a fantastic team.
“We were there for about three or four months testing, because it's a prototype, and they couldn't have helped us more – they were absolutely brilliant.”
