New Surface Water Drainage

Surface water drainage is what stops rainfall turning into flooding. On commercial sites, poor surface water management can cause ponding in car parks, slippery walkways, water getting in near entrances, and combined systems being overloaded.

ICE Drainage designs and installs new surface water drainage across London and the Home Counties, supporting facilities management teams, property managers, hospitality venues, and commercial estates. Whether you're dealing with persistent standing water or planning a refurbishment, we install systems that move water away efficiently and stay easy to maintain.

What is surface water drainage?

Surface water drainage is the network that collects and carries rainwater away from car parks and service yards, footpaths and external walkways, courtyards and loading bays, roof downpipes, and hardstanding around buildings.

Typical components include gullies and trapped gullies, channel drains, catch pits and silt traps, underground pipework, soakaways or attenuation depending on the site, and connections into existing surface water systems.

A well-designed system reduces flood risk, protects surfaces, and helps stop water getting into buildings.

Signs you need new surface water drainage

You may need new installation work if you're seeing standing water or ponding after rainfall, flooding at entrances or near thresholds, slippery walkways and increased slip risk, water pooling around gullies, often caused by poor falls or undersized drainage, silt and debris build-up in existing drainage points, systems overwhelmed during heavy rain, or damage to tarmac or block paving from persistent saturation.

On hospitality and customer-facing sites, even minor ponding can become a safety and reputational issue.

Common causes of surface water problems

Surface water issues often come down to design, capacity, or maintenance. Common causes include not enough drainage points for the area, poor gradients or falls directing water to the wrong places, undersized pipework or restricted outfalls, silted catch pits and blocked gullies, damaged or collapsed pipework, and site changes such as new paving, extensions, or resurfacing that weren't matched with updated drainage.

If you're not sure what's driving the issue, we can help identify the cause and recommend the most cost-effective fix.

Our new surface water drainage services

We install and upgrade surface water systems for commercial properties and managed sites.

New gullies, channel drains, and collection points

We install new surface water collection points to improve capture and reduce ponding, including trapped gullies, yard gullies, channel drains such as ACO drains, and catch pits or silt traps to reduce blockages further downstream.

Underground surface water pipe installation

Where the issue is capacity or failed pipework, we can install new underground pipe runs to improve flow and reduce restrictions, replace damaged or collapsed sections, re-route drainage to a better outfall, or support new hardstanding or building work.

Alterations for refurbishments and site changes

If you're resurfacing a yard, reconfiguring a car park, or extending a building, we can alter the surface water drainage to match the new layout.

Investigation and fault finding

If the problem isn't obvious, we can investigate, checking gullies, catch pits, and outfalls, assessing likely restrictions and pinch points, and using a CCTV survey where appropriate to confirm defects in underground runs. This helps target any excavation and avoid unnecessary disruption.

Surface water drainage for hospitality and FM portfolios

Hospitality and FM-managed sites tend to have the same requirements: minimal disruption to operations, clear communication and safe working, evidence and reporting for internal stakeholders, and systems that are easy to maintain and reduce reactive call-outs. We're used to working around live environments and coordinating with site teams.

Minimising disruption on live sites

Surface water drainage work often involves excavation in high-traffic areas. We can plan around deliveries and loading bay access, customer footfall and peak times, permit-to-work processes, and out-of-hours windows where required. Our focus is safe working, clear signage and segregation, and practical reinstatement afterwards.

Planned maintenance to protect your investment

Even a new system needs maintenance to keep performing. We can support planned maintenance such as routine gully and catch pit cleaning, silt removal to keep capacity high, jetting of connecting pipework where required, and reporting and recommendations after each visit. This is especially useful for sites with trees, heavy traffic, or high debris loads.

Why choose ICE Drainage?

A commercial-first drainage contractor for hospitality and FM
Coverage across London and the Home Counties
Reactive and planned capability, from investigation through to installation
A focus on maintainability, including access, silt management, and future servicing
Credentials including Safe Contractor, SSSTS, and Constructionline Gold

ICE Drainage is a specialist service expansion of ICE Cleaning, a leading sewage cleaning company in the UK.