Scottish Water is taking action to stop sewage from flooding a courtyard in Aberdeen’s west end.
The tenement building on St Swithin Street is home to the popular Cafe Cognito and Spar convenience store at the front.
However, the area at the rear has fallen victim to unfortunate flooding on a number of occasions in the last decade.
During heavy spells of rain, overflowing sewage from drains in the courtyard creates a problem by seeping in through three rear communal doors.
So now, plans have been drawn up to add new flood-proof doors and a flood barrier to the rear of the properties at 39, 41 and 45.
What’s the proposed solution?
A “rapid assembly flood barrier” will be installed in front of the existing cellar door.
It can be placed within the frame of the door in minutes and has been proven to keep water out.
Meanwhile, two new replacement flood doors would be installed at the rear communal entrances.
Both measures are expected to help protect the building against any potential flooding events in the future.
The steel-reinforced uPVC flood doors have an ‘active flood seal’ mechanism that has proved to significantly reduce the risk of water leaking inside.
It is designed to activate on its own automatically during any flood event.
While the businesses have had issues, it is not believed to have had an impact on the day-to-day running of them.
Why is Scottish Water doing this?
Scottish Water has a duty to remove foul and surface water from land surrounding properties.
But, the firm is also responsible for protecting them from sewer flooding.
The firm believes sewer flooding is occurring more often in some areas during periods of heavy rain due to climate change.
Bosses argue the changes are needed to future-proof the building.
In planning documents, they say the anti-flood measures would “ensure that this historic building continues to be fully occupied, used and maintained”.
They also say it would “provide an economically viable long-term future and valid insurance cover for the owners and occupiers”.
Cognito owners were approached for comment.
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