A revolutionary way to stop Britain's homes flooding

Instead of building walls to keep floods out, developers are beginning to wonder – why not open up, and let the water in?

A group of architects have designed a revolutionary way to combat flood, the most serious natural hazard in the UK: opening up and letting the water in instead of keeping it out, reports the Telegraph.

“We see the water as a friend, rather than foe. The aim is to manage the incoming water, and direct it where we want it to go – if needs be, into the development's car parks or garden squares. The fact is, traditional engineering solutions are not going to provide a long-term solution to climate change. You only have to look at what happened to New Orleans, where the defences were built to withstand a predicted level of floodwater, and the predictions proved inadequate," said Robert Barker, director of Baca Architects.

The Met Office is predicting wetter and warmer weather for the UK, the Environment Agency warns that 5 million people are directly affected by flood in the country, while the Association of British Insurers are lobbying for a a new agreement with the government on flood claims in an attempt to mitigate their losses.

In the meanwhile a new group, Know Your Flood Risk has released a booklet on how to make homes flood resilient. Jacki Norbury, the chairman of the group told the Telegraph: “It is often the case that it its better to let the flood water in and adapt your home to reduce the devastation the floodwater can have.”