ACO & Channel Drainage

Channel drainage, often called ACO drainage after one of the leading manufacturers, is one of the most effective ways to control surface water on commercial sites, but only when it's installed correctly and maintained properly. When channels silt up, crack, or lose their fall, you end up with flooding in car parks, service yards, loading bays, bin stores, walkways, and entrances.

ICE Drainage provides ACO and channel drainage installation, repairs, and cleaning across London and the Home Counties, supporting hospitality sites, facilities management teams, and commercial property.

What is ACO or channel drainage?

Channel drainage is a linear drainage system that collects surface water along a run, rather than at a single point like a gully. A typical system includes:

A linear channel, made from polymer concrete, concrete, or plastic
A grate, such as heel-safe, galvanised, or ductile iron
End caps and outlet connections
A connection into surface water pipework, a catch pit, or another drainage feature

It's commonly installed where water needs to be captured across a wide area or along a threshold.

Where channel drains are commonly used

We often see channel drainage on:

Car parks and access roads
Service yards and loading bays
Bin stores and washdown areas
Walkways and pedestrian routes
Building thresholds and entrances
External kitchen and service areas at hospitality sites
Courtyards and hardstanding

The benefit is better water capture and safer surfaces, especially during heavy rainfall.

Common problems with ACO or channel drainage

Channel drains tend to fail for predictable reasons:

Silt and debris build-up blocking flow
Blocked outlets leading to backing up and overflow
Broken or rocking grates creating trip hazards
Cracked channels or failed joints
Poor installation, such as incorrect falls or inadequate bedding
Systems that are undersized for the catchment area

These issues can cause standing water, flooding during rainfall, slips and trips, water tracking into buildings, and more reactive call-outs.

Our ACO and channel drainage services

We support commercial sites with end-to-end channel drainage work.

Channel drain cleaning and clearance

We remove silt, leaves, and debris, clear blockages and restore flow, jet connecting pipework where required, and identify why the system is silting up in the first place.

Repairs and replacements

We replace damaged grates and frames, repair cracked channels and failed joints, rebuild sections where bedding has failed, and resolve outlet restrictions and connection issues.

New channel drain installation

Where surface water capture is inadequate, we can install new channel drainage runs to protect entrances and thresholds, reduce pooling in yards and car parks, improve drainage around loading bays and bin stores, and support washdown areas and other high-runoff zones. We'll recommend suitable channel types and grating based on the load class and how the site is used.

Protecting downstream drainage

Channel drains often carry a lot of debris. If there's nowhere for it to settle, it ends up in your pipework, soakaway, or attenuation system. We often recommend catch pits at key points, silt traps upstream of soakaways or attenuation systems, and accessible inspection points for maintenance. This reduces blockages and extends the life of your surface water assets.

Planned maintenance for channel drainage

For FM teams and hospitality groups, channel drainage performs best with planned cleaning. A simple maintenance schedule can include routine channel clearing, gully and catch pit emptying, jetting where required, and reporting and recommendations after each visit. Planned maintenance reduces flooding incidents and prevents emergency disruption.

Minimising disruption on live commercial sites

Channel drains are often located in high-traffic areas. We can plan work around delivery windows and loading bay access, customer footfall and peak times, permit-to-work processes on FM-managed sites, and out-of-hours windows where required.