Upper Don Source to Sea – delivering nature-based solutions within and above Sheffield

James Mead

As Sheffield City Council, as a Lead Local Flood Authority, reimagines itself as a City of Rivers in for the 21st century better protecting people and property and enabling investment he is client for Sheffield’s ongoing £90m Flood Protection Programme and lead for the Connected by Water Partnership.

Having worked in Flood Risk Management for nearly 20 years he was previously the Environment Agency’s lead advisor on major partnership flood risk projects, including the development and delivery of Sheffield’s £21m Defra Priority Growth Scheme in the Lower Don Valley with its unique Business Improvement District funding and led on the first phases of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s “Rotherham Renaissance” Flood Scheme.

He was the client Project Manager for the £30m, award winning Redcar Coastal Management and Seafront Regeneration Scheme delivering in Partnership with Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council. He has been a key contributor to UK guidance on partnership funding, the relationships between flood risk planning and regeneration and the commercial and regeneration economic benefits of flood risk.

His project work has been used as case studies in Defra guidance for partnership funding and in the development of the joint Defra/EA research & development project “Flood & coastal erosion risk management and the local economy” published by Frontier Economics.

Roger Nowell

He has worked in flood and water management for over 14 years. For 18 years before this he used his landscape architecture and ecology qualifications in land development and management for social, recreation and biodiversity benefits. Within this field he started to work with developers to manage surface water - seeing the opportunity to expand the services landscapes at all scales could provide.

His water experience includes river defence work, for example installing the first River Don sections as part of a new park within Sheffield. The knowledge he gained whilst representing Sheffield on an EU climate adaptation flood project (MARE) combined with a clearer understanding of how climate will impact Sheffield defences has led him to now work on the wider river catchment working with a range of partners to begin the long process of slowing the flow.

His strong passion is about multi beneficial landscapes which manage water, this has included agreeing the design and adoption arrangements for numerous open space SuDS, building regional SuDS for multiple housing developments, pushing for and agreeing Highways SuDS adoption including permeable pavement, swales and bioretention and more recently being part of the team developing the ‘Grey to Green’ SuDS retrofit projects within Sheffield centre.