Azets joins trailblazing flood defence project
A UK top 10 accountancy and business advisory firm in Leeds has thrown its weight behind a trailblazing new community initiative to protect the city from floods.
Azets, which has offices in King Street, is a business partner of the Aire Resilience Company (ARC) and has taken on the role of inaugural finance partner.
It is among a consortium of Leeds businesses behind ARC, which has officially commenced trading as a community interest company.
ARC aims to increase climate resilience for communities, businesses and infrastructure through one of the UK’s largest natural flood management (NFM) schemes, including tree planting and soil aeration, in the upper and mid Aire catchment upstream of Leeds.
It will build on progress by various projects, including the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme introduced following devastating Boxing Day floods of 2015.
Azets will deliver outsourced finance and company administration support, including financial management and company secretarial responsibilities.
Leeds-based Matthew Grant, Yorkshire Head of Accounts and Business Advisory at Azets. Azets is a UK top 10 accountancy and business advisory firm with offices in King Street, Leeds.
Leeds-based Matthew Grant, Yorkshire Head of Accounts and Business Advisory at Azets, said: “ARC has the power to protect people, businesses and infrastructure from the devastating impact of flooding.
“Azets is delighted to be able to play its part in this innovative and forward-thinking project as a business partner and finance partner.
“It reflects our community first approach and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) values which are embedded in everything we do.
“As someone who has worked in Leeds for many years and has witnessed the damage and misery flooding has caused, I am delighted that I personally and the company that I work for has stepped up to help make a difference in our city.”
ARC was established in 2025 through a collaboration between Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and the Rivers Trust, supported by the Yorkshire Regional Flood and Coastal Committee as a direct response to the threat of climate change and increasing flood risk.
It aims to establish a sustainable model to increase resilience for communities and infrastructure in Leeds and the Aire catchment as climate change brings increased risk of flooding in the coming decades.
ARC’s target is to help reduce peak flows on the river by 5% during a large flood – a figure that has been calculated to offset increased river levels due by the year 2069.
The company’s innovative model is based on funding from Leeds-based businesses who contribute annually, usually as part of a five-year contract.
This funding allows NFM delivery partners, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Aire Rivers Trust and White Rose Forest, to collaborate with farmers and landowners in the mid and upper Aire catchment to implement measures on their land and supplies them with a continuous funding source to maintain those measures into the future.
Boxing Day flooding in Kirstall in 2015.
Jonathan Moxon, ARC director and representative for Leeds City Council where he is flood risk and climate resilience manager, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Azets and all of our business partners.
“ARC is reliant on cross-sector collaboration and we are fortunate that there are so many businesses and partners in Leeds who care deeply about enhancing the resilience of the city and improving the environment for the wider area.
“Their involvement has allowed us to create a sustainable, long-term way of carrying out vital work to protect Leeds for decades to come and propel us further towards our goal of becoming the UK’s first net zero and nature positive city.”
The Boxing Day floods of 2015 came after Storm Eva caused the River Aire to reach its highest ever level of 5.2m following weeks of heavy rain.
With a normal flow rate of 15 tonnes per second, an unprecedented 360 tonnes of water per second flowed through it.
Leeds’ three waterways – the River Aire, the River Wharfe and the Aire and Calder Navigation – become overwhelmed with resulting flood waters affected 14 Leeds wards and devastating damage to more than 2,600 homes, 650 businesses and key infrastructure.
Leeds City Council estimates that the floods cost Leeds £36.8m in direct costs and the wider region over £500m to clean up.
Visit https://aireresilience.org/ and https://www.azets.com/en-uk/careers/dei-at-azets/esg for more details.
Image caption (top of page): FLOOD DEFENCE: The Aire Resilience Company (ARC) team from left to right are Philip Blaen (ARC Director representing Yorkshire Water), Gema Gacia (ARC Programme Team and Group Engineer at Leeds City Council), Georgina Mitchell (ARC Chairperson and Director), Mark Garford (ARC Programme Team and Principal Engineer at Leeds City Council) and Jonathan Moxon – ARC Director representing Leeds City Council.