UK: Changing construction to boost flood resilience
By Jon Masters
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Bonfield’s Flood Resilience Action Plan, published in September 2016, set out what five task groups would do, such as embedding more PFR (property flood resilience) in small businesses and launching an online source of public information on flood resilience. Two years on, Bonfield is no longer actively involved, but momentum has been maintained. The round table is now chaired by Aviva’s head of technical property claims, Graham Brogden.
From the round table, a code of practice and guidance on PFR is being written for use by local authorities and all sectors of building and property industries. With input from CIRIA, BRE, CIWEM, the Environment Agency and others, the new code is expected around March this year. It will be pitched at designers, contractors and homeowners, on various methods and processes of PFR, including vital aspects of surveying to assess risk and appropriate measures.
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“There is a lot of focus on SUDS [sustainable urban drainage systems] and other ways of keeping water out when it comes to new-builds, but there’s still little certainty that properties are resilient, so we want to influence changes to building regulations in favour of PFR. Until that happens we will not have much traction on increasing the resilience of newer properties,” Brogden says.
The generally accepted approach to PFR (which will be reflected in the code of practice) adopts a stance of combining appropriate flood protection with measures designed to minimise damage and allow as quick a recovery as possible – installing concrete floors and lifting electrical sockets and white goods, for example.
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A major sticking point for PFR, acknowledged as a cause of a lot of difficulty for homeowners, is the number of organisations involved.
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