Delivering environmentally-friendly flood defences to protect a substation in Croydon for UK Power Networks and Clancy

A client with a strong reputation for sustainable construction needed a flood defence system to protect a large substation in Croydon.

UK Power Networks and Clancy

UK Power Networks is responsible for electricity distribution and maintenance across London, the southeast and east of England. Clancy contracts for UK Power Networks refurbishing substations. Clancy was founded in 1958 and is now one of the largest privately owned construction firms in the UK. Its vision is to be “trusted to deliver smarter, greener infrastructure brilliantly.”

The challenge

Clancy managed construction and implementation of the Andel flood defence system for UK Power Networks.

Location: the substation is located within a flood risk area and is critical for maintaining electricity supply to thousands of homes and businesses.

Sustainable: they wanted an environmentallyfriendly approach in line with their commitment to sustainability.

Disruption: the aim was to protect transformers from flooding to maintain reliable electricity supplies to homes and businesses.

Protection: they needed to protect the transformers from flooding to maintain network resilience.

Inconvenience: they wanted a solution that would cause minimum disruption to the site allowing for continuity of service.

Cost: they needed a cost-effective solution compared to the costs normally associated with traditional flood defences.

The solution

Andel FloodWall and Andel FloodBlox^®

 Andel FloodWall is a cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative for perimeter flood defence and is suited to commercial, residential, new build and retrofit installations. Panels and posts are constructed from robust, 100% recycled, nonporous, post-industrial plastic waste.

This means the substation now has:

• A sustainable, cost-effective and environmentallyfriendly system compared to traditional flood defence systems.
• A flood defence system with a lower carbon footprint compared to an all-concrete construction.
• A modular solution that was easy to transport and speedy to assemble on site with minimum disruption.
• A robust perimeter flood defence designed and tested to meet the requirements of British Standard BS 851188-1:2019 for Flood resistance products.

Andel FloodBlox

^® is an easy-to-use, lightweight, demountable flood barrier for all types of openings such as gates, house doors, patio doors, garage doors, warehouse and factory doors as well as creating easy access within a perimeter flood defence wall.

This means the substation now has:

• A lightweight, easy-to-use demountable flood barrier allowing easy access to the bund.
• Proven technology that uses the natural pressure and weight of floodwater to create a watertight seal.

The result

Sustainable: Panels and posts are constructed from 100% recycled, post-industrial plastic waste, reducing the carbon footprint compared to traditional allconcrete flood defences.

Convenient: A modular, easy-to-assemble system causing minimal disruption to on-site operations as no heavy machinery was required.

Effective: FloodWall and FloodBlox^® provide a robust, tried and tested flood defence solution allowing easy access to protected areas.

Cost: The modular and flexible system reduced installation time and delivered a cost-effective solution.

Excellent communication: The on-site Andel team worked closely with the client, ensuring open and constructive dialogue with regular updates on progress and timescales.

Added value: The project also included installation of Andel’s market-leading BundGuard^® units, a bund dewatering solution previously supplied to the client and contractor on other sites.

What the customer said;

We made the right choice working with Andel on the UK Power Networks Croydon project. Andel has worked with Clancy before providing pollution prevention products and maintenance services for the electrical distribution sector.

As a safeguard against the increasing risk of flooding, Andel were able to provide a sustainable and cost-effective solution for the Croydon substation, protecting UK Power Networks transformers from the risk of future flooding.

Craig Aust, Project Manager, Clancy

It was great to work with Clancy on the UK Power Networks Flood Defence project at Croydon Substation. We were tasked with delivering a robust, reliable and environmentally sustainable solution to protect the transformers on site from the risk of flooding. Working closely with Clancy Project Manager, Craig Aust, we were able to navigate the project to deliver a solution that sat in line with their values of delivering quality and sustainable practices. We are delighted to have successfully delivered a flood defence system that ensures the transformers are protected from the ever-increasing risk of flooding.