Flood Protection

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The René Carayol column

What going Dutch can bring to the UK’s flood defences | Page 2

The Big Interview

Resilience is the key, says MP Anne McIntosh | Pages 8-9

July 2014 | business-reporter.co.uk

FLOOD PROTECTION

Before and after the deluge: We look back at the devastation caused by last winter’s floods and examine how businesses can protect themselves in the future DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH,PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY LYONSDOWN WHICH TAKES SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS

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Flood protection

Opening shots René Carayol

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VISIT to the Netherlands’ best known storm barriers, the Delta Works, which are sometimes called the eighth wonde r of t he world, demonstrates just how seriously the Dutch take flood protection. The Delta Works were developed after the floods of 1953.

Twenty hours of an unforgiving storm was too much for the dykes of Zeeland to handle.

Nearly 2,000 people died and more than 150,000 hectares of land was flooded. With the construction of the Delta Works, the odds of another flood like that of 1953 have been reduced to once every 4,000 years.

The Netherlands is Europe’s most lowlying country, with nearly a quarter of its land below sea level, giving rise to a long history of flooding. This has forced a culture of proactive thinking and behaviour, leading to the establishment of 27 (very) active water boards accountable for overseeing local flood protection.

Historically, the major tools for flood protection were the famous dykes and mills.

When, in the early 1990s, more than 200,000 people had to be evacuated and the dykes only just held, it galvanised a more contemporary approach. The resultant

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What the eighth wonder of the world can teach us about flood protection action has completely shifted mindsets, so much so that the risk of a river flooding has now been reduced from once every 100 years to once every 1,250 years.

British people are regular visitors to the Netherlands and it is a shame we have not brought back some of this proactive attitude.

The Dutch understand that the only way to combat this powerful force of nature is to stay constantly alert, forever updating plans, activities and budgets.

This year has witnessed some of the worst flooding ever seen in the UK and the Environment Agency, whose responsibility it is to maintain banks and flood defences, has faced some tough challenges. Somerset probably suffered as badly as any place, with many of the residents feeling the flooding could have been prevented. Many man-made rivers were created as defences against floods and were regularly dredged.

This dredging meant the rivers were cleared of soil and silt, enabling them to hold far more water. What is needed is long-term

commitment and consistent long-term planning, rather than the usual late kneejerk tactical response.

Surrey was another area badly hit this year, with residents complaining that the Thames Barrier effectively protected London while exposing areas in Surrey to the overflow. Somerset and Surrey are fortuitously rather wealthy counties and consequently local communities were able to dig in and mobilise neighbourhood support while they felt the Environment Agency was stuck in committee meetings.

This January was the wettest in southern England since 1910, with rain falling on 23 days out of 31, and this exacerbated the situation as there was little relief to enable the ground to dry. In many respects the flooding this year was due to the perfect storm: rivers overflowed in Somerset, ground water flooded in the Thames Valley, tidal surges inundated v illages in Lincolnshire, and in all of these areas the rainfall was too powerful and too unrelenting to be absorbed.

It might be time for ever yone concerned to head to the Netherlands to learn from the severe flooding of the 1990s, and just how seriously they take flood protection.

The Dutch have understood the difference between cost and investment; it is actually less expensive to upgrade the flood protection infrastructure than incur the costs of annually clearing up the resultant deluge.

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Bodies must work together in a bigger-picture framework DIFFERENT authorities and industries need to work together more when it comes to managing flood risk, says an industry expert.

Michael Timmins, flood and management water technical director at engineering firm URS, says: “We have to look at the whole catchment. We have to look at land management in the catchment, how we use it, and maybe think outside the box in terms of maintenance.

“Looking at this bigger picture, I think it is not easy, but we can’t just keep building walls.

Nature is complex. We cannot come up with simple solutions. Every catchment is different.

This is going to be a very complicated problem to sort out.”

For example, dredging can help in certain areas, but it is not a silver bullet that is going to solve flooding. “People have often talked about reforestation and managing run off in upper catchments and that is a very good idea,” Timmins continues. “It can work, but again only as part of the whole picture.”

Maintenance has been traditionally undertaken by the Environment Agency but Timmins believes many companies have the abilities and resources to undertake maintenance

on watercourses and catchments. According to him, what will help with maintenance of flood risk areas are authorities working together with industry. He believes this is starting to happen.

Timmins says: “We have the Environment Agency, local flood authorities and councils and internal drainage boards really working together with utility companies much more closely now.

“I think private landowners also need to be aware of the responsibilities that they have to helping to maintain watercourses. We have to learn to work together as different organisations.

Local firms need to recognise their own responsibilities and how they can make an impact.

“This is a very long-term educational and awareness thing, but I think it will come through.”

Homeowners warming to flood defences thanks to subsidy

By Joanne Frearson FLOOD protection products in the UK have been a reluctant buy for many. A lack of understanding about flood risks and the necessity of having protection products have left many in a vulnerable situation.

But attitudes are slowly beginning to change thanks to a new government subsidy, which is offering homes and businesses that were flooded last winter a grant of up to £5,000 to reduce the cost of buying and installing new flood protection measures.

Dr Tim Harries, senior research fellow in the Behaviour and Practice Research Group at Kingston University, says: “What the scheme to subsidise flood protection really did was give a stamp of approval for particular approaches and products. This really helps because people need some kind of reassurance they are not being sold snake oil. I think what we need to do is normalise the idea – people do not really have a not ion of f lood protection. It does not exist as an idea for them.”

John Alexander, managing director at flood management solution provider Aquobex,

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believes £4,500 to £5,000 per property is enough to put resistance measures in place to protect a proper t y f rom flooding, and that if people take up the government grant it will be very cost effective. He says: “The savings on that are immense. The Association of British Insurers reckons it costs £40,000 to £50,000 to reinstate a house. There is already a tenfold saving.

“One of the things we are trying to do in our company is to persuade people that flood protection is a form of home improvement. It is a very reluctant purchase. It is one of the hardest things I have tried to sell in my life. People do not want to buy it. They have much better things to spend their money on.

“If they treated it like a home improvement, it is probably one of the best investments they will ever put into their house.

The payback is immense and the emotional payback is even better – people are out of their houses for months if not years [after a flood] and the disruption is incredible.”

Research undertaken by Dr Harries reveals that people do not really understand floods and what they can do about

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it. He says: “It can be a psychological challenge to go into something that is so complex, especially when you might be wasting your money or be made a fool of if your get the wrong thing. You might get something that feels safe and get a shock when the flood comes along and the product does not stop it.

“There are also issues of stigma – people do not want to brand or label their homes as at risk by having visible barriers.

Some of them have permanent fittings that you always see when you walk past, while others slot in and disappear

once the flood is over. Those would be less stigmatising.” At Aquobex, Alexander says flood protection solutions are going more towards automatic, which tend to blend in better with the house. The firm is also working towards providing people with cost-effective solutions to help protect themselves.

He says: “What you can do that is cost-neutral is simple things, such as moving the power sockets up the wall, put t ing plasterboard on horizontally rather than vertically, and raising metre boxes higher up. There are very small cost elements to that.”

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Flood protection

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Flooding: how can the Dutch help?

INDUSTRY VIEW

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he floods that ravaged the UK last winter prompted calls to “bring in the Dutch”. Surely if we managed our flood risk like the Netherlands everything would be fine. Reality is more nuanced, but it is true that certain Dutch approaches could significantly improve the UK’s flood management.

As an Anglo-Dutch water consultant, Royal HaskoningDHV is directly involved in Dutch flood risk management but also thoroughly understands flooding in the UK. Here, we compare flood management in both countries and identify specific Dutch strategies that could provide cheaper and more effective solutions for the UK.

Differences …

The geology of the Netherlands dictates that flood management is essential to its survival. As such, the location and height of flood defences is prescribed in law which guarantees government funding.

In the UK, although a significant onesixth of households are at risk, flood risk always has to compete for funding with other important issues. Another

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important difference is the UK’s geographical complexity – it rains more, the hills concentrate flows and the geology is particularly diverse.

Essentially, the UK has a more difficult flooding problem, but with less drive and funding to deal with it. Evidence shows that it would make economic sense to invest more in risk reduction – for example, by doubling government funding – but even that would not fully control the risk.

… and similarities Still, both countries can learn from each other. The UK’s practical experience of flooding has produced highly regarded warning systems, public engagement and insurance arrangements. In addition, the Dutch are interested in the UK’s focus on maximising the return on limited investment, as applied in flood defence asset management, business case development and prioritisation.

Jaap Flikweert is director of water governance & strategy, Royal HaskoningDHV +44 (0)1733 336543 jaap.flikweert@rhdhv.com

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Dutch innovations that could help the UK The vital importance of flood management in the Netherlands has led to many years of investment in innovation, which is where the real opportunities lie for “bringing in the Dutch”. We believe the following innovations, from a range of organisations, could make a real difference in the UK:

Photo: Joop van Houdt, Rijkswaterstaat

Hydraulic and hydrological modelling • 3Di: revolutionary interactive flood modelling tool by the makers of Sobek – both faster and more accurate • Hydronet: an application that brings water data together in a customisable format to suit every water manager’s need for decision support • WotsUp: crowd-sourcing application for members of the public to send flooding observations to water managers • Groundwater: using statistical analysis to extend data availability and linking surface and groundwater flows Stakeholder engagement and process management • Master Circle: structured method for managing complex processes, using a well-respected master’s authority to align stakeholders • Serious games: gaming technology to bring stakeholders together by seeing the consequences of their actions and understanding other’s views Incident management • Storm Atlas: fast tool for coastal water level predictions along the North Sea. Inspired

by New Orleans Hurricane Atlas • Evacuation modelling: predicting the success of evacuations based on warning lead times, human behaviour and traffic capacity Construction methods • Pumping stations: in addition to providing large pumps, there is also strong Dutch expertise in optimising performance of existing (heritage) pumping stations • The Zandmotor (above): near The Hague is a very large beach recharge that provides robust flood defence while supporting habitats and stimulating tourism

Putting yourself on the map Accurate mapping will help communities, businesses and public bodies react effectively as the waters start to rise INDUSTRY VIEW

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esponding to devastating, unpredictable flooding requires significant resources. This includes manpower, specialist equipment and transport, but another essential asset is accurate geographic information.

As the water rises, organisations must know where their assets are, how the area could be affected and where to respond.

They also need reliable information.

Carl Wilson, who manages the technical support team at Ordnance Survey, believes that the organisation’s accurate mapping services have played a key role in a variety of emergency incidents.

Ordnance Survey has worked with a number of the high-profile groups fighting floods, including the Government, the Environment Agency and the emergency services.

While these organisations battled floods, they relied on detailed OS mapping, which they could adapt to their own purposes. Wilson says: “It was fantastic to be able to link our expertise in map visualisation and analytics to the Environment Agency’s experience in

flood mapping. The winter floods demonstrated how mapping can be used to get the best information together in one place for the benefit of our partners and the public.

“Digital OS mapping delivers a common picture of a landscape enabling users to gain valuable insight and intelligence to help manage and respond to changing situations,” says Wilson. He adds that Ordnance Survey can overlay other data onto their maps, meaning that they could show a business where its assets are or identify the location of different flood defences.

“The Environment Agency has its own layers of information. This can include flood defences and flood plains, which can easily be overlayed onto OS mapping, instantly providing a picture of the area. In a flood situation, this becomes extremely important because you need to be clear about where you are and what you are looking at.”

But Wilson believes the organisation’s USP is its accuracy and detail. “Up-todate, accurate information is vital in a flood scenario,” he says. “There will be a decision around deployment or blocking

a road, and you don’t want to discover that a map is out-of-date or that a small detail about a tiny road that really matters is missing.”

Beyond the immediate response to floods, Ordnance Survey focuses on flood analysis – which can help organisations work out the possible effects of an incident – as well as working on the UK’s preparedness for the future.

“We did analysis allowing different scenarios to be run,” Wilson says. “Users can create impact maps estimating increases in water levels and identify how many properties will be affected.

Ordnance Survey mapping also lets users see the type of property affected, such as home, business, school or care home. This vital insight can help in both prevention and flood response and could ultimately save lives.”

Ordnance Survey works extensively with private companies, including utility and insurance firms, and is also looking at resilience for the future – including a new government mapping system allowing different resilience

agencies to share information.

Floods may be hard to predict, but accurate mapping will help communities, businesses and public bodies react effectively as the waters start to rise.

023 8005 5563 www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

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TIME AND TIDE For 30 years, the Thames Barrier has protected the capital from flooding. What does the future hold?

By Joanne Frearson AROUND 1.25 million people live or work in a flood plain area in London, while half a million properties have been built there.

The impact of flooding in the capital to the economy is immense.

Just a single day of flooding in London would cost the government alone £10million in revenue due to staff absences. London contributes some £250billion in goods and services annually to the economy, and a flood in the city would cause severe damage and disruption to the country.

The Thames Barrier has been protecting London since 1982.

Operated by the Environment Agency, it has been opened 174 times to help protect the city from tidal or river flooding. But in the latest winter floods there was a sudden spike in its use, and the barrier needed to be open more than 50 times to stop the water from hitting the flood plains.

“The Thames Barrier has been in operation for over 30 years and yet one quarter of all its total closures, have happened in the last three months,” said Prime Minister David Cameron.

There are concerns that climate change is increasing the risk of flooding in London. Water levels in the Thames are expected to rise

by between 20cm and 88cm over the next century, and by 2100 it is estimated that the Thames Barrier would have to close 200 times a year to protect London from tidal flooding.

The government has set out a plan called the Thames Estuary 2100 to manage flood risk for London and the surrounding area until the end of the century.

Investigations have shown it is expected the Thames Barrier will remain viable until 2070.

Iain White, professor of environmental planning at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, said: “I’m sure it will need upgrading over time – climate change is predicted to raise storm surges and sea levels. But precisely as to when and how much is yet to be decided. But it is a very good solution for London and has saved an enormous amount of damage in a hidden way over the years.”

In the first 25 years of the Thames Estuary 2100 plan, it is estimated that £1.5billion will be spent maintaining and improving the existing system. An additional £1.8billion will be spent in the next 15 years, at which point another review will take place around 2050.

Floods are a real risk to London and having a plan in place will help mitigate the city’s vulnerability – meanwhile, the barrier continues to keep an eye on the threat.

Above and right: the Thames Barrier was constructed between 1974 and 1982

How the barrier works

Alamy

Each main gate on the Thames Barrier, which spans the river at New Charlton, weighs 3,300 tonnes and protects 125 square kilometres of central London and some areas of west London from tidal surges and river flooding. The main gates when raised stand as high as a five-storey building and as wide as the opening of Tower Bridge. It takes about 90 minutes to close all 10 gates.

Weather satellites and ships, oil rigs and coastal stations give information to the Environmental Agency on a potential surge tide.

Dangerous conditions can be forecast up to 36 hours in advance and the Thames Barrier will close just after low tide, or about four hours before the peak of the incoming surge tide reaches the barrier.

The Thames Barrier remains closed until the water level downstream has receded to the same level as upstream.

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The numbers game

By Joanne Frearson

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EXCLUSIONS of certain households from a proposed flood insurance scheme, designed to help people who are at high risk of flooding afford insurance, could prove disastrous for people that do not meet the inclusion criteria.

The recent passing of the Water Act in May means the scheme, called Flood Re, is set to start in 2015. The proposed scheme funds high-risk households by placing a levy on every household policy in the UK. The levy will be 2.2 per cent of the household premium, which works out at £10.50 a year on average on all home insurance policies, the government claims.

The funding is expected to help around 1 to 2 per cent of homes at the highest risk of flooding, while 99 per cent of homes will continue to access the free market for insurance. The proposed scheme does not include properties in Council Tax bands H and I, businesses, homes built after 2009 and also leaseholders.

Bronek Masojada (right), CEO of Hiscox, which specialises in insuring people and business with complicated and unusual needs, told Business Reporter the proposed scheme will disadvantage many. He says: “The way it works is by getting 2.2 per cent of premiums levy, which will be paid

by all home owner policyholders irrespective of whether they are on the top of the hill or whether they are right next to the river.

“There are two perspectives. The first is of the person on the top of the hill who doesn’t face the flood risk who has been asked to pay 2.2 per ce nt of t he i r pr e m iu m to s ub sid i s e those at the bottom of the hill. I have seen comments saying, ‘That is not fair – I do not live in a flood risk, if you choose to buy a house next to the river, why should I have to subsidise your home insurance?’

“Whereas the perspective of those people next to the river is that the climate is changing which is not caused by me, it is caused by all of us together. Climate volatility is clearly going up and therefore this is a societal problem and you should help remunerate me.”

The main challenge of Flood Re will be around those groups that are excluded, says Masojada.

“If you are in an excluded category who lives on a top of a hill you may shrug your shoulders and move on,” he says. “For those in the excluded categories who are at risk, they are going to face very free-market pricing. If you are specifically identified by the Flood Re process at being at risk they are going to find it much more expensive to buy cover. By encouraging people to protect

their property can lessen premiums, depending on a number of factors and the amount of competition in the market place.

“From an insurance point of view if someone is better protected they should get a better price, but it will take time before all that is worked into the pricing matrix and it will also depend on the degree of competition.

“The more information we have, the more risk-reflective pricing we can provide as insurers.

That is obviously a benefit to the people who have protected themselves, but it makes it pretty eye-watering for those who haven’t.”

The main challenge that the government and industry will face is when the next flood comes along. “You are going to have the prospect of, ‘I am in a house, I have been paying the 2.2 per cent levy, I don’t have flood insurance, but I have been helping subsidise my neighbour’s flood insurance’,” he says.

“I spoke to one of the members of office of the MPs in Hull, who was saying we have exactly that situation. New-build houses have been built r ight alongside houses which

were flooded in 2007. The 2007 houses will be covered and the houses built in 2010 are not.

They are going to find it really hard to buy home insurance. We know from our own experience from insuring people who have faced floods that it is a materially devastating and emotionally draining, because your home is destroyed but it is still there.”

Masojada believes there are three things the government should do. Firstly, they should only exclude new builds that recieved planning permission after the Water Act gained royal assent, as from that date it was clear to the public of what the consequences are.

Secondly, it should include all Council Tax bands and thirdly people who have leaseholds and live in blocks of flats should be able to benefit, rather than having their own little mutual within the block of flats.

A scheme that only funds some people to be protected from the devastation floods can cause is likely to cause hardship for others. But the scheme will only be in force in 2015, which with any luck will be enough time for these challenges and details to be worked through.

Without better asset management, climate change will hit the balance sheet INDUSTRY VIEW

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n December 11, 2005 at Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire, a safety system designed to prevent petrol tanks overfilling failed. This failure triggered an unstoppable chain of events – explosions, a five-day fire, destruction of the neighbouring Maylands business estate, and an enormous smoke plume – which would result in dizzyingly diverse consequences. The smoke prevented landings at Heathrow and led to the closure of the M1.

The fire destroyed fuel stocks, resulting in shortages at Heathrow which caused costly disruptions for international airlines for more than two months.

Maylands’ destruction cost more than £70million to businesses. An IT company’s Maylands premises held data including a £1.4billion payroll scheme and patient record systems for five hospitals; all this data was rendered unavailable. Had the disaster taken place on a weekday these hospitals would have been inundated with injured Buncefield and Maylands employees, with no systems available to process them. Fortunately, it was a Sunday.

Buncefield illustrates how infrastructure interdependencies send cascade failures sweeping into other sectors and countries. This disaster was caused by system failure, but there’s no reason why the same couldn’t result from floods or extreme temperatures. For example, the 2009 Cumbrian floods destroyed a bridge

carrying fibre optic circuits, cutting communications to 40,000 people and the police, and exacerbating transport disruption.

Climate change scientists predict more frequent, intense and enduring extreme weather events such as heat waves and coastal flooding (see page 12). Logically, this will bring increased risk of cascade failures. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified water, sanitation, energy, transport and communications as being most at risk from these, but any company with a built asset base can be affected.

Manufacturing and retail can be particularly affected by transport failure if they rely on very short delivery lead times. In globalised supply chains, infrastructure failure can quickly cascade from the other side of the globe.

Operators and regulators are failing to make critical assets resilient to climate change. Asset management

must look beyond the asset in isolation to understand the extent and complexity of dependence chains, including their vulnerability to climate change. These interconnectivities should be identified and if they cannot be eliminated, a management plan developed, or redundancy built into the system to limit cascade potential. Executives tend to be flummoxed by this task, but climate risk assessments by technical experts can translate complex climate scenarios and risk assessments into meaningful action plans.

Implementing these plans can be costly, especially where they involve ageing and densely situated existing assets. Balance sheets depend on assets being operational; if they are not, business is at risk.

Utilities may face further penalty from regulators for service disruption, and the potential public health costs associated with water, power and emergency services disruption cannot be dismissed.

Insurers are already reassessing how they cover weather risks. This should be a red flag to industry: risk is changing, and potential costs are increasing. Only by taking a comprehensive “helicopter view” of sites, people, and products can operators ensure their assets – and by extension their balance sheet – really are fit to withstand climate change.

Andrew Heather (left) is portfolio manager for environment, sustainability & climate change at Mott MacDonald 01223 463498 Andrew.Heather@mottmac.com

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PROTECT AND SURVIVE A British firm of architects is developing the next generation of intelligent flood-resistant buildings. Joanne Frearson reports

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LOOD-resilient properties are being designed in the UK which will help provide the industry with a standard of best practices to protect homes and commercial premises against flooding.

Robert Barker, director at Baca Architects, says: “The idea behind the flood resilient property we have developed for Defra is a best-practice approach to providing resilience to flooding. It’s based on a new build we are doing in Watford, which is going to have a residential and a commercial component, as there are different flood protections solutions for different types of buildings.

“For a residential property you will tend to have narrower openings and so on, which makes it easier to protect

Top right and above: Baca’s revolutionary amphibious building (before and after), which floats in its own dock when flooded

against floods. For commercial, you might have big sliding doors for vans to come in through or big open-glass areas for retail properties. They are more complex, but if a flood hits potentially the costs and the disruption to business can be quite staggering.”

There will be three different types of best-practice standards – bronze, silver and gold. “Gold standard will be the most expensive,” says Barker. “In gold standard protection, what you are looking to do is to prevent the water from coming in as much as possible. If the water level gets too high you let the water come in, but in a controlled fashion.

“What we are doing is designing drainage systems to take the water away, so you can clean it up and get back to business quickly. In a silver system, it will take a bit longer, and you will not be looking at as many resistance measures in a bronze system – which is perhaps more important for warehouse storage. It takes a bit longer for the buildings to dry up, but the capital costs are lower.”

The various measures to prevent water from coming through will include

anything from the type of insulation used in cavities, to seals used in the infrastructure. “We are looking at using sensors, which will provide an early-warning system,” Barker says. “You have smoke sensors in your house – we’re developing an idea of flood senses, which can also be on the outside of the property as well.

“They can pre-warn when the flood waters are coming. Obviously you know it is there anyway, but those extra few seconds can make quite a lot of difference. If you got something valuable in your property that you need to move away it will trigger an automatic flood barrier to prevent the water from coming in through the doorway.

Baca Architects is also developing an amphibious property, under construction in Marlow, which will allow the house to float. “We have excavated the ground and created a hole in the ground – a dock.

The building sits within that, and when

the water level rises the whole building will actually move up with it. The building can move about two and a half metres, and is held in place by four guide posts so it will not come out of the dock.”

However, it will probably be some time until these standards become the norm for properties. Barker says: “A couple of things need to happen before this becomes more common practice. One factor is insurance premiums. If you are in a property that has been flooded a few years in a row and you are paying £15,000 to £20,000 excess, it will drive you to make a change to try and improve it.

Insurance is a factor.

“The other one is we need to bring these things into building regulations in the same way that fire is very heavily regulated.”

UK flood response at the bottom of the class FLOOD management infrastructure in the UK will face increasing pressure, as a changing climate is expected to bring extreme weather conditions to the country. The latest report from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) gives a scorecard grade to infrastructure in the UK, flood management performed poorly, receiving a C- grade.

This means flood management infrastructure is infrequently maintained and requires attention.

Significant investment is required to improve it to meet needs for the next five years.

Jim Hall, Professor of Climate and Environmental Risk at University of Oxford, and author of ICE’s State of the Nation Infrastructure report, says: “Different

parts of the network are at risk in separate ways. When you talk about risk, you need to think about the likelihood of things going wrong and the consequences when they do go wrong.

“You need to understand where things are and what they are exposed to. How many people are dependent on them? How resilient and fragile are they? How well protected are they? You have to understand the different ways in which systems can fail.”

It is important to understand how infrastructure is influenced by different climatic conditions and what are the risks in relation to that, Hall points out. “The issue is we do not know as much as we should about the risks and reliability of infrastructure systems,” he

says. “The data is not available, maybe because it is not being collected. We are still not really using the very best in monitoring and modern sensing technology in terms of understanding what is going on in infrastructure systems.”

But Professor Hall believes not everything has to be protected to a fantastically high standard. He says: “One has to invest proportionally in a cost-effective way to get the risk down to a tolerably low level rather than coming up with a big number for how much we have got to spend.

“This is a work in progress, and an issue of national concern. You cannot just leave it to individual companies or sectors when things go wrong.”

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Fluvial, pluvial, tidal or groundwater: Landmark maps all risk INDUSTRY VIEW

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andmark Information Group has introduced the ESI National Groundwater Flood Risk Map data into its flood risk reports, meaning that detailed analysis on all forms of flood – fluvial (river), pluvial (surface water), coastal or tidal and now groundwater – can now be analysed to assess risk at a given property or location.

With the Met Office recording the winter of 2013/14 as the wettest on record – including the flooding of more than 7,800 homes and almost 3,000 commercial properties – the need for accurate flood risk assessment is vital.

Chris Stubbs, MD – environment and mapping at Landmark, said: “With extreme weather conditions threatening to become ever more prevalent, plus Environment Agency data illustrating that overall flood risk has increased over the last decade, the ability to accurately assess associated risk is increasingly important in first-stage prevention. We provide access to specialist flood data from a range of expert sources and produce bespoke analysis reports to clarify what level of risk is posed to a particular area of land, building site or property. Our environmental data is exhaustive and, by analysing risk (not susceptibility), our reports provide accurate due diligence, so preventative measures can be put in place, as needed.”

Landmark is the UK’s leading supplier of digital mapping, property and environmental risk information, and is part of the Know Your Flood Risk Campaign. It supports architects, surveyors, environmental consultants, planners, developers and property conveyancers with data, insight and intelligence.

03300 366000 www.landmark.co.uk

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The big interview Anne McIntosh MP

We need greater clarity, greater transparency and a greater understanding of what is a very limited budget

By Joanne Frearson

L

AST winter, between December and this February, more than 7,800 homes and nearly 3,000 commercial properties flooded in the UK. Devastation hit areas such as Somerset, Warwickshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Cornwall and Devon.

Transport was disrupted, people were displaced from their homes and businesses were forced to close down.

Annual flood damage costs for the UK are in the region of £1.1billion, and overall some 5.2 million properties are at risk of flooding in England. It has been estimated that maintaining existing levels of flood defence would require spending to increase to more than £1billion per year by 2035.

The UK government was commended for the help and support it provided to people during the winter floods. But, according to the latest report by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

(Defra) Select Committee, funding for maintenance is at a bare minimum.

The overall funding for maintenance is actually down from £170million in 2012/13, to £147million in 2013/14.

“It is a bit like the health service,” says Anne McIntosh MP, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee (inset, opposite). “You can honestly say there will never be enough money to prevent floods from happening.

Floods are an act of weather and an act of god, but resilience is the absolute key.

“The evidence shows that there is backup – there is a logjam of repairs that need to be carried out. We are saying that we need regular maintenance, dredging and de-silting, removing the weeds off the banks.”

Funding for floods distributed by the government is currently derived from two budgets. The first is capital, which is primarily for the construction of new assets, while the second is revenue, which is a budget for staff, offices and for ongoing maintenance of existing assets. There is a lot of confusion around how these budgets are defined.

McIntosh, who is also the Conservative MP for Thirsk, Malton and Filey in Yorkshire, says: “One single thing we thought would make the biggest difference is to merge the two budgets. At the moment you’ve got a budget for maintenance and you’ve got a budget for capital. No one really understands what is maintenance and revenue and what is capital?

“If, for example, you got a small dredger, it could be [paid for from] maintenance. But if you got a large dredger, like the ones they were using in Somerset, then that is counted as capital. This would be revolutionary, and you would have to get the Treasury to approve.

“I think Lord Smith [the outgoing chairman of the Environment Agency] would be very keen [to have this approved], and I also think the department would find it very helpful as well. It has been described by the Secretary of State and his team as a grey area. I think we need greater clarity, greater transparency and

a greater understanding of what is a very limited budget.

“We would also like to see more partnership money be introduced – at the moment it is all local government or public body money like Defra and the Environment Agency,” says McIntosh. “We applaud the government approach of partnership funding, but we need to have more private partners coming in water and insurance companies.”

Investment in flood risk management represents good value for money, she claims.

The Environment Agency has said most new flood defence schemes built now reduce expected damage by at least £8 for every £1 spent.

To help protect communities from floods, McIntosh believes it is also important to work with nature. She says: “We think there should still be some hard physical defences, but the emphasis should move much more to soft defences, which is what has worked so successfully in my own area.” Soft defences are those which use the natural environment, rather than made-made constructions, to slow the flow of water.

“Working with nature, storing water upstream, it has worked in Pickering,” says McIntosh. “You plant trees to create little mini-dams to slow the flow. A one-in-200year event would not be protected against, but anything other than that should be.

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Partnerships on the Somerset Levels are delivering results INDUSTRY VIEW

S Main image: a barricaded house near the flooded village of Moorland, on the Somerset levels, last year; below: Richard Perry of Gloucester inspects the flood damage in his back yard; below left, opposite: volunteers in Chertsey evacuate residents from their flooded homes

“More natural flood defences cost less and are easier to introduce. Now they have had the pilots in place, in rural areas we like to see pilot schemes for farmers and landowners rolled out across the country, assuming they have been seen to work well.”

In the floods last winter, thousands of acres of farmland were ravaged – which has “a knock-on effect on food security and ability to feed ourselves and export,” says McIntosh.

Agriculture is a major industry and an important

rural employer in the UK, and there are concerns that the current method for allocating flood defence funding fails to recognise the importance and value of this.

McIntosh says: “The evidence we heard is that local knowledge is the key – working with drainage boards where they exist, working with farmers – who tend to be the drainage boards, form the committee and do the work – and not having a top-down imposed national scheme.

“I think there is concern that no new money appears to be emerging. What we have seen locally is talk of a local levy and a pre-set amount being put on both district and community councils, and local internal

drainage board’s (IDB) to shore up the work of the Environment Agency. We are also hearing the end of this month is the deadline for the farm applications for flood damage caused – we are hearing it is not very clear how to apply for that.”

In the winter floods, around 4,500 Environment Agency staff worked to help flooded communities, along with others including emergency services and local councils. It is also crucial not to let any cuts to budget reduce the number of frontline staff needed to respond at crisis time, says McIntosh. “We have a commitment from the prime minister and the government that frontline jobs will not be lost. But that obviously is something we are going to monitor, and we want to make sure that, come the next flood, these people will still be in place. These are the people that make good flood defences – they are the fourth emergency service in time of a flood.

You need to give the department and the environmental agency, the drainage boards and the front-line defence and flood protection workers the tools to do the job.”

The widespread devastation flooding causes not only hurts local communities, but also has an impact to the overall economy as well. Whether governments can see the benefits of being more proactive remains to be seen, but plans certainly seem to be in motion.

pecialist contractor Land and Water Services Ltd (LAWS) is the principal provider for the dredging works for the Environment Agency on the rivers Parrett and Tone, which were the focus of dramatic flooding earlier this year. In January, and while the flood waters were still rising, LAWS, using its in-house expertise, developed a dredging and reuse strategy in conjunction with the Environment Agency.

A large amount of the dredged material will be used as agricultural soil improvers on the surrounding farmland.

This sustainable philosophy will help to regenerate the affected farmland in the region.

Where appropriate, some of the dredged material will be used by the Environment Agency to improve or repair flood defences.

Operating in a completely open-book manner, LAWS and the Environment Agency have worked together to deploy the works, overcome the regulatory approvals and engage with all interested parties to enable the mobilisation of the works by the end of March as water levels began to recede. “This has been a colossal undertaking,” says James Maclean, MD at Land and Water. “All parties have worked with transparency and trust to deliver the improvements in time for next winter.

We have now successfully engaged with a number of local farmers, who are helping haul our materials.

We even have some of the flood victims temporarily employed on the scheme.

This is a terrific example of a client, a contractor and a local community working together to solve a problem in their collective interest.”

0844 875 1260 www.land-water.co.uk

Business Reporter · July 2014

Flood Protection

ExpertInsight

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Flood prevention with permeable paving We can’t do much to stop it raining, but we can change the ways we plan and develop our landscapes to minimise the risk of flooding

INDUSTRY VIEW

W

ater is a growing problem in the UK. On an annual basis, we seem to lurch from flooding to drought in a matter of months – we either have too much water to deal with or not enough.

One of the main reasons for this situation is that weather patterns are changing. It rains more frequently, in heavier outbursts and for longer periods of time than we are used to – creating deluges that our drains and sewers were not designed to cope with.

In addition, we are continually developing over natural green land. This means that rainwater which would have previously soaked naturally into the ground instead accumulates on hard surfaces and rushes at high speed into already overburdened drainage systems, increasing the risk of flooding.

Our overdevelopment also has the effect of diverting rainwater runoff away from natural aquifers, which means that when the rain stops, our natural resources are depleted. Coupled with an ever-growing population, this creates the water shortages that hit the headlines on an increasingly regular basis.

We can’t do much to stop it raining, but we can change the ways in which we plan and develop our landscapes to minimise the risk of flooding and drought. One of the most sensible ways of achieving this is to adopt SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems). These systems use simple technology to mimic natural drainage systems, ensuring that rainwater soaks into the ground as close to the source as possible. This philosophy provides a number of advantages: • Reduced demand on the drainage system • The water table is maintained at a healthy level • The green infrastructure in the nearby area is maintained with minimal irrigation

Some have argued that SuDS would not have prevented the heavy flooding seen on the Somerset Levels earlier this year. However, if effective SuDS had been adopted upstream then less water would have flooded down to the low-lying areas, reducing levels of saturation.

SuDS aren’t a panacea, but they are a very practical means of significantly reducing flood risk. One of the most versatile SuDS systems available is permeable paving.

This marries the kind of hard standing that will take the heaviest loads on today’s roads with a unique sub-base composition which allows water to permeate directly into the ground at source. This means that practical, reliable driveways, roads and car parks can be created without increasing the amount of surface water runoff over the area.

Marshalls has been supplying its market-leading Priora permeable paving system for more than 13 years. A Priora surface looks very much like a standard block-paved road or driveway; a series of concrete blocks are laid in a variety of patterns to achieve an attractive surface. The blocks themselves are made from the same kind of robust, hardwearing concrete as a standard paving unit. However, Priora blocks are unusual in that they have a series of patented nibs placed along each side. When these blocks are laid side by side, the nibs interlock to create a series of consistent gaps through which rainwater can flow.

Unlike traditional pavements, which are laid on sand and designed to keep water on the surface, a Priora sub-base is composed of large particle aggregate, which is ideal for storing large volumes of water which pass through the voids between the

blocks. This easily available aggregate still supports the heaviest loads on the road.

Once the water is collected (or “attenuated”) in the sub-base of a Priora permeable system, depending on the type of ground it is constructed on, it will either infiltrate into the ground at source or be channelled away at a controlled rate.

This is a simple yet incredibly effective technology which requires no channels, gratings or other drainage facilities, making installation easy. Best of all, the cost of a permeable system is broadly comparable to an asphalt surface with an adequate level of linear drainage.

Legislation currently exists which requires homeowners to use some kind of permeable surfacing for the installation or replacement of any driveway.

However, this legislation is rarely enforced in England. Enforcing this legislation, and driving understanding of permeable surfaces for use in large scale public and private landscapes, would go a significant way to reducing the risk of flooding – leaving resources available to support those people affected when the worst happens in those areas which cannot avoid the brunt of our changing weather systems.

Mary Dhonau OBE, head of the Flood Protection Association, has a vested interest in minimising flooding – her own home has been flooded several times, so she’s fully aware of the grim reality of dealing with flooding and its aftermath. She said: “Surface water runoff is one of the main causes of inland flooding in the UK, so anything we can do to reduce the amount of runoff can only be a good thing. Leaving green land clear and open instead of surfacing over it would be ideal – but seeing as we all drive cars, or push prams, wheelchairs or bikes, this is rarely practical.

“Permeable paving is a great compromise between nature and the requirements of modern living. It keeps rainwater within the land that it falls on, which means that it’s not flooding into peoples’ homes – and you can drive on it! What’s not to like?”

01422 312000 customeradvice@marshalls.co.uk www.marshalls.co.uk

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Inspector Dogberry

Re-insurers can get a consistent view of global flood risk in 168 countries, following a new partnership between JBA Risk Management and ImageCat. Jill Boulton, director of JBA, says: “Rivers flow across country boundaries,

By Natasha Clark, web assistant

sometimes through several Being one of Dogberry’s

the aftermath of Sandy.

favourite cities, the

Even better, the flood

Inspector was naturally saddened when Hurricane

protection walls will not dense and vulnerable

look like barriers as such, but

Sandy devastated the coastline

urban area, much of which was

form attractive centres of social

of New York in 2012.

severly damaged by Sandy.

and recreational activity. For

Infrastructure was disabled,

example, the Battery Berm,

architectural firm Bjarke Ingels

homes were flooded and many

which will protect the financial

Group has won $335million to

elderly or disabled people were

district, will be a unique landscape

develop a project called BIG U,

trapped in their apartments,

which people can engage with.

to help prepare Manhattan for

and the financial district, which

any future storms. The project

is situated in the floodplain

10 miles of coastline is home to

will protect 10 continuous

area, ground to a halt for a week

around 200,000 people, including

miles of low-lying geography

following the storm. Many

95,000 low-income elderly and

that comprises an incredibly

residents are still struggling with

disabled residents.

So he was delighted to hear

A ring bank flood protection scheme is being developed for Thorney village in Somerset, as part of the county’s 20 Year Flood Action Plan.

The Parrett Drainage Board is preparing to build the bank to protect the village, which was among the communities badly hit during the winter flooding. The earth bank planned for the west of Thorney will improve flood protection for around 10 houses and the public highway.

Peter Maltby, chairman of the Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium, says: “This scheme was envisaged in the midst of the recent flood event, and without a doubt will THORNE Y reduce the flood risk to the properties and the road that flooded last winter.”

ExpertInsight

Twitter: @dogberryTweets

The floodplain of Manhattan’s

u Editor’s pick The River Management Blog

countries. Assessing exposure has been both complicated

therivermanagementblog. wordpress.com

and inaccurate because of the available maps varied

With an outstanding level of expert knowledge on river management, this blog has information on everything, from the best MSc courses on the subject, to revisiting incidents such as Boscastle’s floods.

An exceptionally detailed and up-to-date resource for specialists.

in resolution and modelling technologies. The current trend towards more erratic weather systems brings with it a greater risk of floods.”

By using the JBA flood maps owners and re-insurers can get a better understanding of flood exposure at address level, particularly for areas

Sustainable Flood Memories

that have had no risk modelling.

of homes flooding.” The five-month scheme will involve upsizing 650 metres of existing sewer pipe in the area. A tank, which will store storm water in times of heavy rainfall, will also be constructed in the open

Put that in your pipe

space east of Henley Gardens.

www.southwellfloodforum.org.uk

Formed as part of a community flood risk project run by the University of Gloucestershire, this site provides some preliminary ideas and findings from the research project.

Collating information from around the web with pictures, videos and links, though it has long been updated, the information is still relevant today.

This hyperlocal website is a community protection and support resource for those living in Southwell. Includes plenty of information on meetings, action in the area and resources for dealing with floods.

Flood Control International www.floodcontrolinternational. com/latest-news.php

£150million to help protect areas in the region that are prone to flooding.

Ian Davison, project manager for the scheme, says: “Reducing the risk of flooding to homes and businesses is a top priority. This is just one of dozens of schemes we will be carrying out over the next couple of years, to upgrade our vast sewer network and reduce the risk

INDUSTRY VIEW

specialist company with headquarters in Devon has been successfully offering marine civil engineering services nationwide for more than 20 years. Traditionally, its expertise covers the construction and maintenance of piers, jetties, sea walls, marinas, river banks, canals, MOD facilities, RNLI slipways and much more. However, in recent years, flood prevention, flood relief and storm damage have become a major part of its business. TMS Maritime knows about working on, around and under water. It has a broad range of in-house expertise, commercial divers and extensive specialist floating plant. In severe weather emergencies the company offers a rapid response that has been highly praised by the Environment Agency.

Southwell Flood Forum

floodmemories.wordpress.com

Northumbrian Water is investing

Driven by the effects of climate change

A

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Flood Alert (Free – iOS, Android) The Environment Agency’s app updates you with the number of flood warnings in the UK at any one time, and can be searched by location or severity, or give a country-wide overview.

Sai Fah: The Flood Fighter (Free – iOS, Android) Taking the form of a children’s game, this flood preparation education app tells kids how to prepare for floods, what to remember when travelling and dealing with emergency situations.

Peter Stenner, director of TMS, says the flooding of the Somerset Levels was a classic example of how quickly the company can mobilise. “We received a call from the Environment Agency on a Friday evening, requesting a jetty to be constructed near Bridgwater to support the now famous Dutch super pumps that were arriving imminently.

The plant needed for this job was just finishing a contract in Glasgow, over 400 miles away. Yet by early Saturday morning the plant was on site at Bridgwater.

We sourced steel piles, which arrived later that morning and by 10pm on the Sunday evening we had driven 120 tons of piles and the temporary jetty was ready to support the eight Dutch super pumps. At the same time

This flood defence firm provides a worldwide overview of where flood defences are being fitted, new schemes introduced and the latest updates on conferences and government policies.

TMS was also involved in rebuilding the collapsed main railway line at Dawlish.”

TMS Maritime works on water-related infrastructure projects and flood defences nationwide, either directly for local authorities, the Environment Agency, Network Rail and other utility providers, or as subcontractor to major civil engineering companies. It is a rapidly expanding part of the business, driven by the need to respond to the effects of climate change by protecting assets from costly damage and minimising civilian disruption. +44 (0)1626 866066 www.tmsmaritime.co.uk

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Business World Myanmar

The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction has signed a $4million grant to help Myanmar people in the Yangon and Mandalay regions with basic infrastructure services. A part of this will be used to reduce flooding and waterlogging. The grant will include improving drainage of storm and flood water and enhancing access to roads and footpaths.

By 2018, the grant aims to build 2,000 sanitary latrines, construct 17 kilometres of drains linked to city networks, and build four community solid waste systems in four townships.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

ExpertInsight

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has stepped up its engagement in the Balkans to help boost economies affected by flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As part of the regional flood response, the EBRD will place a priority on the rehabilitation of damaged roads, railways and water supply systems, as well as damaged power stations and transmission and distribution networks.

The bank is looking to provide extra capital to small and medium enterprises, especially in the agribusiness and farming sectors. Longer term, the bank will also place an emphasis on working with authorities to develop improved flood protection systems and help reduce the risk of such widespread damage in the future.

Switzerland A report by Zurich Insurance Group in conjunction with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania showed more resources are put into helping communities globally recover after a flood, as opposed to enhancing flood resilience.

Over the past two decades, nearly 87 per cent of spending on aid went into emergency response, reconstruction and rehabilitation, while only 13 per cent towards reducing and managing the risks before they became disasters.

The report showed exposure to repeated flooding can trap households or entire communities in a cycle of poverty. By addressing flood risk effectively, communities can break this vicious cycle.

Risky business

How a new flood modelling system helps protect communities at greatest risk INDUSTRY VIEW

A

freezing winter weekend in 1953 lives long in the memories of residents on the east coast of England. The sea surged over defences, killing 307 people and forcing 30,000 from their homes. Caused by a major depression and driving winds, the surge affected 1,600km of the coastline, opening an estimated 2,000 breaches in natural and artificial defences, overwhelming 650sq km of land and damaging 24,000 properties. The Big Flood is one of the worst natural disasters in Britain’s history.

Since 1953 coastal populations have boomed because, paradoxically, the building of higher, stronger defences engendered new confidence to live in low-lying coastal areas. Some defences are now at or close to the end of their 50-year life expectancy. The number of people and the value of property susceptible to a major storm surge are therefore greater than before – and the effects of any infrastructure impacts can be magnified through cascade failure (see page 6).

A modelling system incorporating forecast data on sea levels, wind speed and direction is fundamental to the

Environment Agency’s (EA) planning and execution of emergency responses.

However, the system does not take into account the type and condition of sea defences – beaches and dunes, sea walls, salt marsh, earth embankments and rock revetments – making it difficult to pinpoint exactly where the risk of breaches or overtopping and resultant flooding is greatest. This has historically given rise to false alarms, disrupting people and businesses and stretching emergency services.

Management, engineering and development consultancy Mott MacDonald has developed a new modelling system that provides this vital detail and displays it graphically, showing the level of risk faced by different coastal communities.

Algorithms combine real-time Met Office weather and sea level forecasts with the information on coastal defences to calculate the probability and severity of flooding.

“Knowing what the defensive line is made of dramatically improves one’s ability to anticipate where overtopping or breaches will occur,” says Mott MacDonald technical director Sun Yan Evans. “We know where the effects of tides, wind and waves will be

most severe.” A mapping library highlights the location and elevation of communities and assets vulnerable to flooding, including strategically vital infrastructure such as power substations, water and wastewater treatment works, telecommunications centres and principal transport corridors.

Institutions including schools, hospitals and prisons, where extra time is needed to evacuate occupants, are also marked.

Armed with this information, the EA and emergency services can focus warning and evacuation activities on those most in danger while avoiding disruption of those not at immediate risk.

EA flood warning officers were trained in the system in 2011 and it was initially

used on coastline between the Humber estuary and the Wash. More recently, the system helped inform the EA’s response to the December 2013 east coast tidal surge, which caused widespread flooding.

The system is also a powerful tool for raising flood risk awareness.

“We generate time lapse animations showing how flood events would unfold,” says Evans. “Visualising water flowing up streets and into buildings brings home the potential severity of flood risk for the public and everyone involved in planning for and responding to floods.”

01223 463689 SunYan.Evans@mottmac.com

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It’s not just residential buildings that could benefit from greater flood protection – the damage from not planning ahead for businesses can be huge. By Joanne Frearson

M

ExpertInsight

OST businesses can save up to 90 per cent on the cost of lost stock and moveable equipment by taking action to prepare in a d v a n c e f or f lo o d i n g, according to statistics on the Know Your Flood Risk website.

Mary Dhonau (inset), who won an OBE for her services to the environment, is the chief executive of the campaign, which raises awareness on flooding risk for homes and businesses. She is also the chair of the Flood Protection Association.

Dhonau tells Business Reporter she has been a flood victim herself, and strongly advocates helping people protect themselves. She cannot stress enough the importance of investing in flood protection products and hates sandbags with a vengeance as they do nothing but merely filter the water.

There are approximately 185,000 commercial properties at risk across England and Wales, and on average losses incurred by businesses are around £28,000. Dhonau says: “The worst thing businesses can do is leave things on the ground, such as computing and paper invoices. It is essential that businesses think about their equipment and back everything up, so they do not lose all their valuable data. They must

also make a continuity plan of what to do if your business was going to flood. Make sure your employees are safe and aware of what they are going to do should a flood come, and invest in protection products.”

According to Dhonau, equipment should be easily accessible, as it could mean the difference of being able to open the next day when the waters have gone. Also, being signed up to the Environment Agency will mean you are alerted to flood information for your area.

“The average person and business is out of their home or office for about nine months and businesses cannot stomach that,” she says.

Dhonau explains it is the surface water flooding, which happens when rainwater does not drain away through the normal systems, is what people should be really concerned about.

“It is often low-level flooding that can cause utter devastation,” she says. “By simply blocking up the air bricks covering with a kite marked air brick cover which you can screw in place if you get a flood warning. My choice is to have a self-closing air brick, which automatically closes when the water hits it. So it is sort of passive intervention really, because you do not have to be at home to put it in.”

Floods can occur in the middle of the night and

having self-closing air bricks means you do not have to go outside to fit them. “There are various different kinds of protections you can get for the front door,” she says. “Again, ones you can clip into place or screw into place, but you want a kite mark so you know they are going to work.

“My preference is for something that effectively looks like a normal front door, but the minute you lock it and go away it acts as an automatic flood defence in your absence. You can also get ones that will fit over French windows and ordinary doors.

“You can paint the outside of your building which what is effectively an invisible solution, but it will act as an invisible barrier to slow down the ingress of water through the bricks. It does

allow the bricks to continue to breathe under normal circumstances, but acts as a barrier.”

But if you are based in a remote place it also may be necessary to use alternative methods of communication to help prepare people for a flood. Dhonau says: “If you do not qualify for a river or sea flood warning, think about investing in a telemetry system which can ring up communities remotely and let them know if a local stream is getting full.”

Protecting your business against floods could mean the difference between opening the next day and closing down – and the case for prevention before cure appears stronger than ever. www.knowyourfloodrisk.co.uk

Thinking globally but acting locally Innovative combinations are required to tackle the challenges ahead INDUSTRY VIEW

L

ast winter the UK saw widespread flood damage from coastal, river and groundwater sources. The scale of the subsequent clean-up reflects the threat posed by extreme weather.

With climate change fuelling increasingly unpredictable storms, the UK must strive to protect existing development and prevent swathes of infrastructure being disrupted for months at a time.

Much debate has centred on the need for improved flood defences and dredged river channels, but a more pragmatic approach is required. Canutelike attempts to keep water in its place are only part of the solution.

Nature operates on a grand scale and so must we. To reduce the impact of floods, we must store rainfall, slow the rate of runoff and allow rivers to burst their banks in places where damage can be limited. An example is to encourage reforestation in the catchment areas of major rivers and accept the periodic flooding of agricultural fields.

Such measures will not spring up of their own accord. Farmers will not voluntarily see winter-sown crops washed away or oust livestock from hillsides to plant trees. The knowledge that woodland is more than 60 times better at absorbing rainfall than grassland simply doesn’t figure at present.

The solution lies in recognising the economic impact of disruption and the consequent value of reducing it.

Flooding can cost many millions, so it must be worth offsetting part of that cost in advance to compensate landowners who allow their fields to act as temporary reservoirs, or to subsidise the reestablishment of woodland sponges.

Thankfully, steps in this direction are already being taken. The concept of natural capital valuation – putting a price on aspects of nature we take for granted – is gaining ground. And the next step, actively investing in natural capital, is also on the table. In May 2013, URS co-authored a report on behalf of the

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), called Payments For Ecosystem Services: A Best Practice Guide.

Using payments for ecosystems services (PES) to reduce flood risk on a national scale will require expertise from many different disciplines, from economists, planners and sociologists to engineers and ecologists.

The challenge requires a co-ordinated response from government bodies including Defra, the Environment Agency, the Treasury, the Forestry Commission, and the Department for Communities and Local Government, as well as non-governmental organisations such as the National Farmers Union and Woodland Trust.

Localism is an important part of the PES picture. Communities directly affected by flooding, for example, might

consider a local levy to fund investments that benefit them. Rivers do not adhere to administrative boundaries so money raised in one jurisdiction may need to be invested in another to reap the expected benefits.

The negotiations required to instigate such measures are complex, but not impossible. Coping with extreme weather will require putting a familiar concept into action: thinking globally but acting locally. We need to rethink traditional binary positions of hard-engineered defences versus soft natural flood risk management. Innovative combinations of both are required to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

Jon Robinson is UK operations director – water, URS jon.robinson@urs.com http://www.urs.com/uki

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Marcus Brutus (from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar) There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune

Flood protection Industry view

Business Zone

“

A costeffective means of safeguarding communities

P

rotecting the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads from flooding is a challenging job. The 30,000 hectares of wetlands that make up one of Europe’s richest ecological networks sits so close to the East Anglian coastline that that tidal surges regularly push salt water into rivers and broads, threatening to flood agricultural land and occasionally breaching existing flood banks.

There are also 1,700 properties in the area, which need to be defended together with the maintenance of 260 kilometres of flood defence banks, which protect 24,000 hectares of agricultural land and 28 sites of special scientific interest.

In 2001 the Environment Agency took the bold approach of offering a contract on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis for a 20-year term. Using a PPP meant the flood defence assets would be improved and maintained by an organisation with the operational skills to carry out the work in the most cost-effective way.

In the past the agency had used traditional forms of contract to repair flood defences, but this was not keeping pace with the deterioration. By focussing on a 20-year horizon, Broadland Environmental Services, which is carrying out the work on behalf of the Environment Agency, is able to operate on a strategic level, which means setting priorities for successful flood defences.

The length of the programme has also

NORFOLK BROADS FLOOD DEFENCES

A strategy of flood compartments, restoration and improvement of existing flood defences

Maintenance activities

30,000ha 260km total wetlands area

Improvements completed

River Ant

In construction

of flood defences

River Bure

Managing water more sustainably is a strategic priority

STRATEGY

In design & planning

N

Wroxham

W

2 miles

River Thurne River Bure

NORWICH

River Bure

River Yare

GREAT YARMOUTH River Yare Ha

dd

River Waveney isc

oe

Cu

THREAT FROM NORTH SEA

t

Increasing threat from tidal surges & salt water breaches

£117.6m

graphic: © www.paulweston.info

The future

LOWESTOFT River Waveney

contract value (2011)

20 years

24,000ha

programme length

Agricultural land & sites of special scientific interest at risk

Beccles

encouraged innovation in sustainable flood defence techniques.

The annual strategy is a critical part of the process, and is used to ensure that improvements are carried out in the areas most at risk from flooding. These areas are considered as 40 separate flood compartments, bordered by high ground or flood walls.

Much work was carried out during the first two years of the project, including the construction of a hydraulic model, to ensure the improvements carried out upstream in an area did not have a detrimental effect downstream.

Potentially, this holistic approach to flood

155km

45km

of strengthened flood banks so far

length of banks set back 50m from river

defence management could be applied elsewhere in the UK and there has been considerable interest from overseas. This novel project’s aims were ambitious but it has done what it set out to do, not least improving more than 200 kms of flood defences that protect the delicate Broads environment.

The project is a successful working model of an alternative costeffective means of safeguarding rural communities and offers a good example of an approach that future governments could take.

01276 854708 www.bamnuttall.co.uk

In focus: Why vision and community

engagement is key

T

raditionally, flood and coastal management has been all about mitigating risk with government agencies being incentivised on achieving these goals. It has often been the case of targeting resources and spending as a preventative effort to stop bad things from happening.

But there is a need to move to solutions that not only endeavour to prevent flooding but also to incorporate vision for the future, and seek to make good things happen resulting in positive longterm outcomes for

communities, businesses and the economy as a whole.

Here are some examples.

Our £180m Moray Flood Alleviation Scheme has taken 15 years to complete and is a pioneering example of how engaging with the community and stakeholders

and using intelligent investment can create a sustainable legacy for generations to come. Also, the Littlehaven Promenade and Sea Wall project, which recently won awards from Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ and the Institution of Civil Engineers, combines a sustainable sea defence and enhancing amenities for better accessibility and connectivity to the seafront, riverside and the regenerated town centre.

More recently, OMA and Royal HaskoningDHV won the Rebuild by Design competition in New York

and New Jersey for their comprehensive urban water strategy for Hoboken, which is a combination of hard infrastructure and soft landscaping and is based on four pillars: resist, delay, store and discharge of water, and is a great example of long term vision and integrated partnership solution to the benefit of the 50,000-strong community and its economy.

Steven Trewhella is business unit director for rivers, deltas & coasts, Royal HaskoningDHV +44 (0) 1733 336135 steven.trewhella@rhdhv.com

e need to learn to embrace a life with water.

After all, it is essential for our wellbeing. However, we can still treat water as a nuisance and design infrastructure accordingly as we did in centuries gone by. This legacy has resulted in a Norwich national infrastructure that in parts exacerbates LONDON and causes flooding.

Much recent flooding is a result of a misunderstanding of the water environment’s sensitivity to change and underestimating the power that the hydrological cycle can exert. The lack of joined-up thinking on a catchment scale has exposed the inadequacies of public and private entities pursuing their own interests and remits. In England, the Environment Agency does its best to draw these various strands together with varying degrees of success.

The 2010 Flood and Water Management Act places sustainable drainage as a key objective for all new developments. Holding back water within our catchments will be a positive outcome of the act.

It is regrettable that the government has again delayed the implementation of Schedule 3 to bring these measures into force, leaving developers and regulators in limbo. It is clear that we have much to learn from our continental colleagues.

There are reasons to be optimistic though, with companies like Ramboll leading the way with more holistic and integrated solutions for urban development, where living with and managing water more sustainably has been a strategic priority.

By applying our innovative approach with global thinking, our solutions treat water as a resource rather than a nuisance; integrating amenity and ecology while reducing flooding and enhancing life. www.ramboll.co.uk

Great Yarmouth

Lowestoft

Business Reporter · July 2014 · 15

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

The debate What can be done to alleviate future flooding?

Matt Roberts

Claire Yeates

Ian MacLennan CSSW Managing director MacLennan Waterproofing

Marketing manager Darcy Spillcare Manufacturing

Managing director Flood Control International Ltd

To meet the needs of the community and environment, it is essential that catchments and floodplains are managed as a “total system”.

This means that flood management should start in the streets, backyards and farms by providing sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), improved stormwater controls, better waste water management and preservation of the natural environment.

BMT WBM has been at the forefront of integrated floodplain management for over a decade in Australia, winning many awards for its innovative Total Water Cycle Management Plans that consider the role of SuDS in all elements of the water cycle, including flood management.

Within urban environments, our first line of defence against surface water and sewer flooding is “source control” – which means dealing with water when and where it falls. By using green infrastructure and SuDS to help manage water quantity and quality, we can reduce the overall impact of future flooding.

In the UK, the greatest flood risk is currently posed by surface water flooding, as construction and development has eliminated many of the earth’s natural drainage systems.

To reduce this, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) can be used; they also add value through enhanced biodiversity, amenity and the use of rainwater as a resource. Permeable surfaces, vegetation, swales and retention ponds are classic techniques that help to recreate natural drainage.

With SuDS’s recent developments, the systems are now sophisticated enough to manage heavy rainfall and are now a necessity in sustainable development.

Combined industrial systems, acting as source control, integrate attenuation tanks, larger drainage channels and rainwater harvesting.

A well-designed water management system not only provides protection in times of flood, it also safeguards against other extremes (such as drought), cuts operational costs and provides a sustainable platform for growth while minimising impact on the local community.

We cannot prevent flooding in the future, but what we can do is to prevent houses from flooding.

After properties have been flooded they are generally refurbished; it is at this time that flood prevention can be built into houses. Correctly designed cavity drain systems work, whereas most waterproofing does not. Although, as it is deemed betterment, it is not covered by insurance and often not even proposed.

Flood proofing can only be achieved by expertly designed water management systems inside the property and installation time is best when finishes are being replaced.

All houses offer water resistance, but with a correctly designed cavity drain system, and flood doors or barriers, most properties can be made flood proof. External systems are rarely wholly successful.

The cost of flood proofing is a fraction of repeated repairs if carried out correctly – the investment would be paid after the next flooding event.

We deal with the consequences of failings in flood and spill protection and believe that while arguments about responsibility may rage, the ability to respond must rest with the organisation and the individual.

Priority for any business should never be to rely on outside help to ringfence and secure their premises.

Environmental legislation places a requirement for spill protection on the business. Many products, along with specific flood defence capabilities, can enable a business to – quite literally – ride out the storm.

Darcy assists in daily spill planning to include flood defence in basic waste management and environmental protection strategies.

It’s not about saving the planet, it’s about protecting the business and managing the impact – and cost.

Similarly, communities should unite and collaborate to protect themselves as we see few preventative measures coming from government, and Environment Agency resources are stretched through cutbacks and commitments.

Last winter was the wettest on record, with nearly 3,000 commercial properties flooded. For many businesses, it was catastrophic.

Flooding will not go away. But something can be done about it.

At Flood Control International we engineer, design, manufacture and install the widest range of flood defence systems in the world, predominantly for industrial and commercial sectors. For virtually every type of flooding, there is equipment that can protect businesses from it.

Bespoke engineered barriers, gates and doors are available that are tailored to specific needs. We also produce glass flood walls that protect riverside premises as well as coastal towns. We pride ourselves to provide the right solution every time.

We work with the Environment Agency and utilities companies to protect key services and areas, and we were chosen to provide the flood protection for all the UK’s nuclear power stations.

We have a saying at FCI: “The water stops here”. And it does.

london@bmtwbm.co.uk

www.waterscan.com

www.darcy.co.uk

www.floodcontrolinternational.com

COMING SOON...

UK Operations manager BMT WBM

Director Waterscan Ltd

0845 658 7777 ian@maclennanuk.com

Simon Evans

Tim Collingwood

Nick D’Aloisio, the 18-year-old entrepreneur behind Summly, which was sold to Yahoo for a reported $30million in 2013, tells us about his work – and his hopes for the future.

Your 16-page report on supply chains, out next weekend with lyonsdown.co.uk