Get Sust! Issue 48

Engineering solutions to flood risk

Flooding was in the UK news again recently - with devastating consequences for the householders and businesses involved. Although some areas of the UK have always been at risk, the combination of climate change (wetter weather likely) and building policies (more construction on and around flood planes) means that novel strategies for tackling the problem are needed urgently.

Step forward, RIBA’s think tank ‘Building Futures’ and the engineering might of the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE), who have jointly launched a new research report ‘Facing up to rising sea levels’, which summarises the problems and proposes possible actions to help two UK cities at high flood risk - Kingston-upon-Hull and Portsmouth

Around 5.5 million households are in flood risk areas in England and Wales, with 2.6m of those properties at direct risk of flooding from rivers or the sea. In the summer of 2007, for instance, after 100mm of rain fell in 24 hours in Hull, nearly 9000 homes and 1300 businesses were affected.

Learn more:

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Download the document from www.buildingfutures.org.uk/projects/building-futures/facing-up