Beyondly Supports Aire Resilience Company as Their Natural Flood Management Project Launches
The Aire Resilience Company (ARC) is a social enterprise working for a safer, more prosperous Leeds. Recognising that climate change will threaten thousands of businesses and homes with increasingly severe and frequent flooding, ARC is working to protect the city by deploying 1,300 hectares of nature-based solutions to slow the flow of water into the River Aire and keep Leeds thriving for decades to come.
We are delighted to share that ARC have officially commenced trading, meaning work can begin on natural flood management interventions and creating long-term climate resilience for the area. The natural flood management project will involve implementing measures such as tree and hedgerow planting, soil aeration, multispecies leys, earth bunds, and buffer strips in the upper and mid Aire catchment – measures that will help reduce flooding, improve water quality, enhance biodiversity, and increase the efficiency of farmland in the area.
In 2015, the city was hit by a severe flood caused by Storm Eva (a 1 in 200 year event), costing Leeds an estimated £500 million, and impacting more than 3,000 businesses and homes. Leeds has a history of damaging floods and we know climate change will only increase the likelihood of such events in future, which is why Beyondly are helping to fund ARC’s vital climate adaptation work, through our Fund for Change initiative – a commitment to donating 5% of our net profit to charity and community interest companies (CIC) delivering projects that drive positive impact on both the planet and society.
2026 marks the second consecutive year of Beyondly and ARC’s partnership. Beyondly’s grant has helped fund the recruitment of a sustainability professional, responsible for growing ARC’s business consortium of forward-thinking companies – essential to their development and launch as a CIC in summer 2025. Beyondly’s second year of support will allow ARC to further strengthen engagement and their profile within the Leeds business community, as well as enable them to measure the environmental and social effectiveness of their interventions.
Beyondly are just one of the businesses who have helped raised the required funds to enable ARC’s natural flood management project to officially commence this year. ARC’s consortium of forward-thinking businesses are passionate about the importance of taking meaningful action and protecting our planet and society from the detrimental impacts of climate change. Click here to see the full list of businesses supporting ARC’s vital work. The funds raised allow ARC’s delivery partners (Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Aire Rivers Trust and White Rose Forest) to collaborate with farmers and landowners to, not only implement flood management measures, but provide them with continuous funding for maintenance.
Mel Harper (Head of Marketing, Brand & Impact at Beyondly), Jonathan Moxley (ARC Director), Rob Horsley (Project Manager at Rivers Trust), and Chris Smith (Lead Consultant Resource Efficiency and Circularity at Beyondly) celebrating the launch of ARC in June 2025.
