Water

Property-level flood protection and resilience

Latest news

  • 3 October - CIRIA and LANDFORM will be delivering four workshops in October on behalf of Defra as part of our current consultation on policy options for promoting household flood resilience and protection. Registration at these workshops is free.

  • 30 July - Defra launches consultation on options to increase the use of property-level measures to mitigate the impacts of flooding for homes that have a high chance of flooding every year.  The consultation builds on the grants pilot scheme that Defra has recently completed.
    • Responses to the consultation should be sent via email to floodresilience@defra.gsi.gov.uk and should be received by Friday 31 October 2008.
    • to support this consultation, we will be arranging some regional consultation events in the autumn.  Further details will be available in September.
Example of main appliances raised on plinths to increase resilience to flooding. Photo courtesy of Norfolk County Council.

Example of main appliances raised on plinths to increase resilience to flooding. Photo courtesy of Norfolk County Council.

 
 

Introduction

The overall aim of this work is to identify new and improved ways in which the public can be encouraged to incorporate appropriate flood resilience or resistance measures in their homes and businesses. Although the Environment Agency continues to maintain and improve large-scale defences for some areas, it is not viable to do so where only a small number of properties would be protected or where defences would be particularly expensive.  One alternative is to improve the flood protection and resilience of individual properties.  Property-level measures may be an effective strategy in areas that flood frequently (around 1 in 50 years or 2% annual chance) and where community defences are unlikely to be a viable option.  The Pitt Review on lessons learned from the 2007 floods has recommended that the Government do more to promote these measures, both for new build and existing properties in flood risk areas.

Consultation on Promoting Property-level Flood Protection and Resilience

Defra published a consultation on options to increase the use of property-level measures to mitigate the impacts of flooding for homes that have a high chance of flooding every year on 30 July 2008.  The consultation builds on the pilot grant scheme that Defra has recently completed.  It asks stakeholders for their views on whether offering households a free home flood survey would be sufficient to drive greater take-up or whether a government grant to subsidise the costs of the measures themselves would be required.  We welcome your views and comments on the proposals.

To support this consultation, CIRIA and LANDFORM will be delivering four regional workshops in October. Registration at these workshops is free via the following links:

  • Wednesday 15th October, The Hospitium Yorkshire Museum & Gardens, Museum Gardens York, YO1 7FR
    Registration  
  • Friday 17th October, Manchester United Football Club, Sir Matt Busby Way, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0RA  
    Registration
  • Thursday 23rd October, Novotel Bristol Centre, Victoria Street, BS1 6HY BRISTOL
    Registration
  • Friday 24th October, Defra Innovation Centre, Reading
    Registration

Responses to the consultation should be sent via email to floodresilience@defra.gsi.gov.uk and should be received by Friday 31 October 2008.  Responses can also be sent by post to: Flood Resilience Consultation, Defra, Ergon House, Area 2D, Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2AL.

Grants Pilot Scheme

Defra recently completed a £500,000 feasibility study on resilience grants pilots.  The pilots were concentrated in areas where properties are at risk from flooding, but are unlikely to receive any flood defence schemes in the foreseeable future.  The results will help to inform our understanding of the effects of financial incentives on the uptake of resistance and resilience measures. The final report of the pilot scheme is available, along details of Hilary Benn's visit to the Leeds pilot on 20 June 2008 where he announced details of Government plans to assist individuals and businesses to better protect their property from the impacts of flooding.

Encouraging take-up of property-level measures

Example of a flood resilient room with ceramic tiled floors, walls and skirting. Photo courtesy of Norfolk County Council.

Example of a flood resilient room with ceramic tiled floors, walls and skirting. Photo courtesy of Norfolk County Council.

A second project has been developing alternative methods of encouraging uptake of property-level flood protection, which covers both resistance (keeping water out) and resilience (reducing damage if water does enter a property).   It has been supported by a research project undertaken for Defra by Entec and Greenstreet Berman (Summary Report and two-page Technical Summary; further technical reports will shortly be available on Defra's R&D pages).

In order to improve access to general advice about property-level measures, plans are progressing to develop a website to function as a first port of call for householders and businesses wishing to protect their properties from flood damage, and as an information resource offering catalogued information to help builders and other professionals stay up-to-date with recent methods and findings.

Details of the likely content, structure and development route for the website can be found in the initial scoping report (produced by CIRIA for the Environment Agency). However final decisions will be based on careful consideration of the options and funding available and will be made in discussion with partner organisations.

Developing better information about the most appropriate flood resilience and resistance measures will be key to increasing the uptake and enhancing their role in broader flood management.  Better information will give greater confidence to households about the utility of paying for flood resilience and allow the market to function better as insurers are able to take greater account of the impact of such measures on flood risk in premiums and excesses. Additionally, work will be carried out with a number of key stakeholders to identify ways in which they can directly encourage uptake. 

On 15 May 2007, the Association of British Insurers and Defra held a stakeholder workshop on flood resilience:

The workshop provided stakeholders with an update on progress since the last event in November 2004 and invited stakeholders to contribute to thinking on how we address the remaining barriers to uptake.

Code for Sustainable Homes

The Code for Sustainable Homes is a voluntary initiative by Government and the building industry designed to promote and transform the industry towards more sustainable practices. It is intended that the code will become the national standard for sustainable buildings and that all those involved in the building industry will work to these standards. Buildings which comply with the code should be perceived as more marketable and of a higher quality.

Flood resilience for new buildings

CLG Sustainable Buildings Division and the Environment Agency sponsored a joint research project to develop guidance on improving the flood resilience of new buildings. The project was managed by CIRIA. A comprehensive literature search revealed that most existing guidance was based on assessments of building techniques rather than controlled tests of materials or forms of construction. These findings supported the project plan that included tests in a hydraulics laboratory. The test process involved testing materials and then forms of construction such as walls or floors.

A risk assessment showed that resistance to flooding (ie measures to prevent or at least minimise the entry of floodwater into properties) to an excessive depth would not be safe. There was uncertainty whether some forms of construction could resist a water depth greater than 60cm - at greater depth there is risk of damage to the building, either from pressure of the water itself or from impacts from debris. This led to the project being steered towards resilience solutions (ie measures to reduce the consequences of water incursion) rather than resistance. Most of the testing involved walls, ie to subject walls to wetting from one side to depths of 1 metre then immersion both sides for 3 days followed by a 7 day period of drying to show the rate of seepage and how readily the walls would dry out.

Technical guide Improving the Flood Performance of New Buildings: Flood Resilient Construction was published on 15 May 2007 by RIBA Publishing, ISBN 978 1 85946 287 4, as the final output of this part of the project. The guide is also available on the CLG website. It covers the nature of flooding and the planning process; design strategies and the options of avoidance, resistance and resilience; building techniques; and a summary of the research done. A CLG press release gives further details.

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Page last modified: 3 October 2008
Page published: 23 July 2008

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs