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Calls for greater flood resilience

MPA The Concrete Centre welcomes new report on infrastructure, engineering and climate change adaptation

MPA The Concrete Centre has welcomed calls for homes and businesses in flood zones to have a greater degree of flood resilience that will allow them to ‘be back in action a day later’.

The calls follow the publication of the report ‘Infrastructure, Engineering and Climate Change Adaptation – Ensuring Services in an Uncertain Future’, by Engineering the Future, an alliance representing nearly half a million engineers.

The report, which examines the potential impacts of climate change upon the UK’s infrastructure, predicts that major flooding could become a regular event due to more frequent severe storms and rising sea levels.

Commissioned by Defra, the report highlights that much could be achieved by revising design standards and building regulations. This includes strengthening planning processes to prevent building in areas at high risk of flooding and incorporating adaptations to make buildings more resilient to flooding.

‘People living in flood zones will have to accept periodically sacrificing ground floors,’ said David Nickols, managing director of engineering consultants WSP and a main author of the report. ‘Homes and businesses in flood-risk areas should be resilient enough to have a foot of water in the ground floor and be back in action a day later.’

Guy Thompson, head of architecture and sustainability at MPA The Concrete Centre, said: ‘The choice of building materials and finishes should maximize flood resilience by minimizing damage and the time taken to refurbish. Masonry and concrete buildings have unmatched levels of robustness, flood resilience and thermal efficiency to enable them to cope with the predicted impacts of wetter winters and hotter summers.’

In addition to increased flood resilience, the report calls for better rainwater management and drainage through the increased use of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), such as porous paved surfaces in urban and suburban areas.

 
 

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