Case Study: business resilience at the Granary Hotel

Climate East Midlands has published a new business resilience case study, with the help of the Granary Hotel near Daventry in Northamptonshire. The case study describes how the Granary Hotel and the Fawsley Estate on which it is situated, undertook work to improve the flow of a stream running close to the hotel, creating space to store water and reducing flood risk to protect the business.

The flooding experienced by the hotel was of great concern because of the potential for lost income. The flood waters made access to the car park virtually impossible, and also caused damage to the walls and foundations of the building. Dampness showing up in the hotel's rooms would have made them unlettable.

To address these challenges, the Estate provided staff and machinery to dig a small storage lake, and a large tree trunk was laid across the width of the stream to allow water to back-up the valley at times of heavy rain. A bridge that had been causing a bottle neck was replaced, and attractive storage ponds were also created.

During the winter of 2013-14, the wettest since records began, no problems occurred. The main stream worked as designed, with water backing up the valley as anticipated. The storage ponds are also working well and will improve the appearance and biodiversity of the area as they become established.

The business is now much less likely to flood, protecting it from disruption, cancellation of bookings and loss of revenue.

This is the fourth case study to be added to Climate East Midlands' series of Business Resilience case studies. Download the case study here.