Sheffield Forgemasters has begun tunnelling work on a new flood prevention system in Sheffield, using a tunnel boring machine to excavate a 320-metre tunnel beneath Brightside Lane as part of the firm's wider £1.3bn recapitalisation programme. The scheme, centred on a new Bagley Brook transfer system, is designed to manage stormwater during heavy rainfall and will support the site's expansion, including a new 13,000-tonne forging line that underpins UK defence manufacturing capability.

The tunnel, running from the riverside to Bagley Brook's Gate 1, will have a diameter of 1.8 metres and a storage capacity of around 3.125 million litres, equivalent to roughly 20,000 bathtubs of water. Once complete, an accompanying pumping station will be able to discharge about 8,000 litres of water per second, described as some 50 bathtubs every second, with the system due to be operational by summer 2027. The infrastructure work is being carried out alongside construction of a new forging building and machine shop on the north side of Brightside Lane, next to the Midland Main Line.