14 July
Twice flooded. Twice rebuilt. And now, according to our insurers, “like Fort Knox.” This is the story of how we refused to accept the unacceptable – and what it means for the people who call Old Prebendal House, home.
Not A Once-in-a-Century Event
When The Old Prebendal House flooded in December 2020, it was described as a once-in-a-hundred-year event. The cruel irony was that it was the second such event to strike the area within two decades – a pattern that speaks less to bad luck and more to the undeniable reality of a changing climate.
For our residents, their families, and our team, it was a deeply unsettling experience. The Old Prebendal House isn’t just a care home – it is genuinely home for the people who live there. Disruption on that scale is not a statistic; it is a profound upheaval in the lives of people who deserve consistency, comfort, and safety above all else.
We were not prepared to let that happen again.
Rebuilding – and Then Some
Following the 2020 flood, we undertook a comprehensive programme of both refurbishment and flood defence. The home was completely renovated and improved – including the addition of new wet rooms – and reopened in 2021 to residents who, we were told repeatedly, had simply missed being home. That reunion mattered enormously to us.
But alongside restoring what residents loved, we invested heavily in protecting it. The measures we put in place included:
- Earth bunds and timber sleepers to redirect surface water away from the building
- A flood wall to guard against rising water from the nearby River Evenlode
- Self-closing, purpose-designed floodgates at key access points
- Surface water pumps and foul drainage backup pumps
- Non-return valves to prevent water ingress through drainage
- Flood water sensors to provide early warning of rising water levels, giving staff maximum time to respond
- Comprehensive staff training, so every member of the team understood their role in an emergency
We believed – and said so at the time – that The Old Prebendal House was as well protected as a care home of its type could be.
2024: Another Test
In 2024, the home flooded again. The primary cause was the failure of the main floodgates, which opened and failed to close under flood conditions. The exact mechanical reason remains undetermined. What followed was another complete refurbishment – and another determined conversation about what more could be done.
The answer, as it turned out, was quite a lot.
“Fort Knox on the Evenlode”
The centrepiece of our enhanced defences is a float-activated hydraulic flood barrier positioned in front of the main gate by Flood Control International, and the first ever deployed in the UK. It requires no human intervention and no electrical power to operate – rising automatically as floodwater lifts the float mechanisms. It is, in the most reassuring sense, failsafe.
Alongside this, we have installed:
- Fast-deploying manual flood barriers for rapid response across vulnerable points
- Non-return valves on showers to prevent backflow ingress
- Flood-resistant airbricks throughout the building
- A raised flood wall for additional margin
- Electrically operated gate kill switches to prevent a repeat of the 2024 gate failure
- Remotely accessed CCTV, allowing our team to monitor flood conditions and gate status in real time – from anywhere, at any time
That last point marks a meaningful shift: Old Prebendal House has moved beyond purely passive, physical defences to active, real-time monitoring. The next time conditions deteriorate, our team will know before the water does.
We were confident enough in these measures to invite our insurers to The Old Prebendal House for a full demonstration – including a live activation of the hydraulic barrier. Their response said everything. Premiums have been significantly reduced, and one assessor, surveying the perimeter, remarked that it felt like Fort Knox.
The insurers are considering using this product on other sites where they have had problems. We’ll take that.
What This Means for Residents and Families
Flood risk is a reality in parts of the UK that will only grow as the climate continues to shift. We have chosen not to look away from that reality, but to meet it directly – with engineering, investment, and training.
The Old Prebendal House is thriving. The team is proud. And our residents – the people for whom all of this ultimately exists – are living in a home that has been fought for, rebuilt, and made safer than it has ever been.
The other real positive outcome of the improvements is that the finished work is so aesthetically pleasing to the eye around the property and in the upgraded Estate gardens that all residents, visitors and staff can enjoy.
That is exactly as it should be.
