The flood-proof house that a jack built
A HOUSE that can be raised up in minutes to avoid flooding is to be built.
The experimental home will be constructed on low-lying paddock land vulnerable to flooding.
The three-bed family property incorporates a motorised jacking system to lift it 5ft when a flood is expected. British engineers will spend four years testing the design.
As the brainchild of Lincolnshirebased housing developer Larkfleet Homes, the unoccupied prototype will be built near Spalding alongside the River Welland.
It will sit on a steel ring beam instead of conventional foundations and eight mechanical jacks will be powered by a central motor, gear box and drive shafts that will lift the 65-ton house in five minutes.
Occupants would vacate the house before flooding occurs while solar panels on the roof and a battery will provide the property with a continuing electricity supply and sewage would remain connected through flexible hoses. Four years less than of experimenting will involve repeated raising and lowering of the house and testing maintenance and operation of the jack system.
If it proves a success, it could “open the floodgates” to thousands of elevated houses being built on ground at risk of flooding across the UK.
Developers could be attracted to floodplain land, which is currently cheap.
Chief executive Karl Hick said: “As far as we know this is the first project of its kind. It seems so obvious really.
“The cost of the experiment is very expensive because it is a one-off and there will be expert engineers involved.
“But if elevated houses were rolled out, the cost of them would be on a par with any other domestic property.”