Living With Water and Hull City Council to transform Rosmead Street

A partnership between Living With Water and Hull City Council housing team will see Rosmead Street on the west of Rosmead Street, up to the junction with Escourt Street, Hull undergo a transformation in 2023.

The joined-up approach will see new frontages on the properties and the creation of a permeable road to help manage surface water and increase flood resilience.

The permeable paving will be made up of non-porous blocks with spaces between them to allow water to flow through. Surface water is collected underneath and the water’s flow into the sewers is then controlled to reduce the likelihood of flooding.

Living With Water conducted surveys with residents to understand how they used the green spaces and what facilities they wanted their street to retain. Maintaining car parking while improving green spaces was the key feedback from residents and this has been incorporated into the design of the new road surface.

While the permeable road surface is being laid, Hull City Council housing team will begin updating the frontage of the properties, which provides a further opportunity to manage surface water from downpipes and remove them from the traditional drainage system.

Lee Pitcher, general manager at Living With Water and head of partnerships at Yorkshire Water, said: “This is the first project of our Blue Green vision which aims to increase flood resilience in the local area by managing surface water better during periods of heavy rain. We’ve engaged with the local community to understand what’s important to them and how we can work together to implement these measures in a way that works for them day-to-day.

“By timing this scheme alongside Hull City Council's Energy Efficiency and Regeneration Teams upgrade of property frontages on Rosmead Street we’ll be able to keep disruption for residents to a minimum and we hope to see people popping into our events in the coming weeks to talk to us about the work and what it will mean for the flood resilience of their area.”

The Rosmead Street project is the first part of a £23m Living With Water investment in surface water schemes in Hull and East Riding over the next five years.

The work to the road is expected to take six months to complete with parts of Rosmead Street closed to vehicles during this period. Additional secure parking will be provided at either end of the street and extra measures will be in place to reduce disruption to residents where possible.

A community event will be held at St John Community Church on 20 September from 2pm - 7pm, where residents can ask questions, see visualisations of the scheme, and find out more about the timescales and the wider Blue Green vision for Hull.

Living With Water is a partnership made up of Yorkshire Water, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull City Council, the University of Hull, and the Environment Agency focusing on flood risk in the East Riding and Hull.