Couple unable to return home a year after Chilwell pipe flood

John Coyne remains hopeful of restoring his family home

A couple forced to flee their home after builders struck a huge water pipe on a construction site are still unable to return a year on.

A huge plume of water shot into the air in the direction of Gwenbrook Avenue, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire.

Nearby homes, streets and tramlines were swamped, with properties including the pair's house evacuated.

John and Julie Coyne still hope to eventually return to their family home of 42 years.

But they remain living in temporary accommodation more than a year since the flooding, while their home is completely rebuilt internally.

He said: "My wife has the distress of the memory of being stuck in the house, seeing water coming through the ceilings, and everything in a mess trying to save treasured possessions.

"She still has nightmares about being trapped in the house with water coming at her from all angles.

"Being out of your home of 40-odd years for a year is distressing enough, but of course the uncertainty, the delays and not knowing when you're going to get back and perpetually having to see the damage in a much-loved property is difficult."

The house has been stripped back to bricks and mortar

A year on, the couple are still planning to return to the house they made their family home.

Mr Coyne added: "Yes it's bricks and mortar, but then there's all the emotions and memories.

"We want to get back to the house we had until this incident."

Spray from the ruptured pipe covered several homes and part of Nottingham's tram network

Workers creating new student accommodation at the Nottingham College site damaged a pipe, releasing a huge jet of water at about 13:30 GMT on 7 March last year.

Developers ALB Properties later apologised in a statement to Nottinghamshire Live "for the inconvenience and distress caused", adding only contractors HBW Construction were on site at the time.

HBW has now appointed liquidators CMB Partners, with about £1.5m owed to creditors.

Following the incident, the Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation to see if regulations had been broken on the site of the 162-bed Graduation House building.

Its investigation ended in January this year, with no further action being taken, the HSE told the BBC.

Following the flooding, the building was completed and the first students were welcomed in autumn 2023.