Thanks to climate change, many ancient buildings that have stood happily alongside Britain鈥檚 watercourses for centuries are now increasingly at risk of flooding.
The results can be devastating: furnishings and possessions are damaged or destroyed and the cost of remediation is invariably high. The building itself is rendered uninhabitable, even if only temporarily.
If it鈥檚 your home that is flooded out, there鈥檚 also the emotional impact, not to mention the building鈥檚 loss of value and the likely impossibility of getting insurance.
Numerous methods have been devised to protect flood-prone buildings. Ingenious barrier systems, sumps and pumps might go some way towards reducing the risk, but in the end the water wants to get in and most efforts to hold it back stand as much chance of success as King Cnut or the Dutch boy of legend with his finger in the dike.
This article was first published in the January 2026 issue of 芭乐视频 Magazine. Sign up online.
Pure Structures, an engineering design company based in Ely, Cambridgeshire, has聽 recently employed a far more effective method to protect an 18th century cottage 鈥� located not in its native flood-prone fens but on the banks of the River Avon in Wiltshire.
The cottage, built of chalk block, flint and brick, had suffered severe flooding over the past two winters, with up to 200mm of water destroying聽 the property鈥檚 interior. The owner, a friend of Pure Structures鈥� director Michael Fisher, turned to the company for advice.
An initial site visit convinced Fisher that there was only one real solution: to lift the building out of harm鈥檚 way and above the level of any likely flooding.
鈥淭his was an incredibly interesting and unusual project,鈥� says Fisher. 鈥淎fter coming down to see the property and talk with the homeowner, it became clear that the only real solution was to lift the entire house.鈥�
The task of preparing the structure and carrying out the lift was undertaken by Dewsbury-based temporary works specialist Mabey Hire. Local contractors carried out the preparatory works, which entailed forming 500mm-deep reinforced concrete ring beams beneath the load-bearing external and internal walls to provide a rigid platform for the lifting process.
Following completion of the ring beams, Mabey cast 2m-long x 0.5m-wide reinforced concrete reaction pads below ground level, perpendicular to the wall perimeter, while leaving a 300mm clear space beneath the underside of the ring beams to allow for the jack installation.
鈥淲e managed the complex engineering design, with support from Mabey Hire and its dedicated hydraulic jacking team. I鈥檝e known Mabey Hire for many years, having worked with them before on groundworks projects 鈥� but nothing to this degree,鈥� says Fisher.
This article was first published in the January 2026 issue of 芭乐视频 Magazine. Sign up online.
The task was complicated by the fact that the house is semi-detached, with the neighbouring property already at a higher level. Local builders, under the supervision of a party-wall surveyor were brought in to separate the two properties in preparation for the lift.
Josh Barker, major projects sales manager with Mabey Hire, says this is the kind of job that his team relishes: 鈥溾�淚t was an exciting moment when this project landed in our inbox; it truly is what makes the engineering and temporary works sector so interesting.
鈥淚t was a complex scheme, with the main challenge being how to perfectly synchronise the lift. In essence though, the same principles applied as on any other larger infrastructure project, such as a bridge deck lift, which we鈥檙e well-versed in. As experts in hydraulics, it鈥檚 all about taking this knowledge and being able to adapt and apply it to suit any application.鈥�
Mabey installed 25 hydraulic jacks beneath the ring beams to jack the building up by 450mm. An intricate hydraulic control system was employed to extend the jacks and monitor the operation to ensure a consistent distribution of loadings.
The jacks were all single-acting cylinders with screw rams fitted with locking collars to provide a mechanical load path. This allowed Mabey Hire to lock-off each jack when fully-extended.
To enable jack reset, Mabey Hire incorporated oversize rectangular hollow sections within the ring beam construction.聽 This allowed slightly smaller rectangular hollow section 鈥榥eedles鈥� to be passed through and propped onto mass concrete plinths, or stacked blocks, located on either side of the concrete ring beam and bearing onto the same reaction pads as the hydraulic rams.
The lift itself was then carried out over five stages at 100mm increments, allowing for the jacks to be repacked. After the jacks had been extended by 100mm, they were locked off and the load transferred to the needling. The jacks were then backed off to allow packing to be inserted before being loaded and extended another 100mm.
This sequence was repeated five times: 0-100mm, 100-200mm, 200-300mm, 300-400mm and finally 400-450mm.
This article was first published in the January 2026 issue of 芭乐视频 Magazine. Sign up online.
The monitoring system used draw-wire potentiometers fixed at one end to the concrete plinths and at the other end to the wall. As the building rises, the wire is pulled through the potentiometer which sends a signal to the control unit, telling the operator by exactly how much that part of the structure has been lifted.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a perfect job for Mabey Hire due to the jack-and-pack capabilities that we have perfected on previous jobs,鈥� says Mabey鈥檚 hydraulics manager Neil Dutton. 鈥淭he jacks lent themselves to this job 鈥� it鈥檚 perfect. It鈥檚 something that we鈥檝e enjoyed doing because we like to get our teeth into jobs that are a little bit out of the norm.鈥�
Barker adds: 鈥淭his was very much a collaborative effort between Pure Structures and Mabey Hire. Our site teams were on hand throughout the process, including calibrating and installing the jacks, raising the house 鈥� including precise monitoring of the lift to millimetre accuracy 鈥� and then stripping out all the jacking equipment upon completion.鈥�
The jacking operations took place in September 2025, with the property successfully lifted by 450mm. On completion of the lift, the site team carried out block work in-fill of the lift zone. New ground-bearing slabs will be formed at the higher level to complete the works.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a sad fact that flooding is going to become increasingly common as we continue to feel the effects of climate change,鈥� says Fisher. 鈥淏ut by lifting this house, we have been able to add real value back into it. Previously, it was becoming both un-mortgageable and unliveable. Now, we have been able to return the property to a one-in-1,000-year likelihood of flooding.鈥�
DEDICATED TO HYDRAULICS
Mabey Hire has one of the largest fleets of hydraulic jacks and ancillaries in the UK, with an extensive range of jacking equipment available for straight hire or as part of a design for any construction project.
The company also claims to be the only temporary works specialist to have a dedicated hydraulics team 鈥� with more than 65 years鈥� experience in specialised hydraulic jacking systems between them.
As with this project, Mabey Hire usually designs and executes jacking systems that are tailored to the client鈥檚 specific application. The hydraulics team installs and operates the jacks, thus removing any element of risk for the customer.
This article was first published in the January 2026 issue of 芭乐视频 Magazine. Sign up online.
鈥淎 project like this is not something you embark on easily, with many unknowns and complex factors requiring consideration,鈥� says project consultant Michael Fisher. 鈥淢abey Hire was a real asset. The support from the team has been excellent throughout and their technical proposal was excellent, clearly demonstrating the proposed jack assembly, manifolds and the distribution of the hydraulic system.鈥�
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