Understanding site topology

By their very purpose, mills can be prone to flash floods caused by insufficient runoff from the leat. Prior to our commission, there had been grave concerns about flooding. In 1996, the water could not escape fast enough, backing up in the car park area to within five cm (2 inches) of flooding the property.

By calculating required flows, lowering the drive level and remodelling the run-off channel, we removed this risk of flood damage. In 2001 another flash storm occured, but the water escaped as intended without incident.