Art studio and events space flooded after water pipe bursts
A Gloucestershire art studio and events space was flooded this week after a pipe burst damaging the building.
Artistic director Jo Leahy is calling for an urgent solution to the problem which is affecting Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA) in John Street, Stroud.
She said she reported a significant increase in water pressure to Severn Trent Water last week after two pressure valves were leaking in the artist studio, gallery and events space in John Street.
They had to turn the stopcock almost completely off to relieve the pressure, she said.
However, Ms Leahy said she received urgent calls on February 16 from several users of the building after a pipe had burst.
“We reported a significant increase in our water pressure on Tuesday, February 10,” she said.
“We have not done any building or plumbing related work at SVA and we became aware of two pressure valves leaking in the building. We had to turn the stop cock nearly to off position to relieve the pressure.
“We were advised to turn the stopcock on and off five times to help relieve the pressure build up but this did not make any difference.
“I gave my mobile phone number as a contact number because I’m not always in the office. I didn’t receive any phone call back.
“We came into the building this morning (February 16) after an urgent call this morning from several users of the building.
“There was a severe flood in the building causing major damage to the building and equipment.
“A pipe has burst due to severe water pressure.”
She said she rang Severn Trent on February 16 and was told it was not an emergency and nobody could come until at least this weekend.
“We are a busy fully occupied building in use 24 hours a day by 30 users of the building,” she said.
“We have a cafe, bar, gallery and events with over 800 people coming to the building each week.
“We cannot operate our services until the severe external water pressure is fixed. Otherwise there will be more floods and damage to our property.
“We urgently need a solution.”
A Severn Trent spokesperson said they were sorry to hear about the situation.
However, they said water pressure readings are stable and their teams have carried out investigations across the network and say there has been no change in pressure.
They suggest hey contact a plumber and their insurance provider for further support.
“Our teams have carried out investigations across our network and we can confirm there has been no change in pressure, nor any issues that would have caused an internal burst,” a spokesperson said.
“We’re sorry to hear about the situation, we know how disruptive a burst pipe in a property can be, but all pressure readings are stable and as expected, and we have updated the customer with this.”
“We suggest they contact a plumber and their insurance provider to support further.”