BRE is to work in partnership with flood risk management company Aquobex and architectural firm Baca to develop a design for a Flood Resilient Home.
Supported by £50k funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the aim is to enable construction of new properties on land in low or residual flood risk areas, which is not currently being developed, to help overcome the current shortage of building land.
Currently in Scotland, it is estimated that as many as 1 in 20 homes are vulnerable to flooding, with housing in the Central Belt, NE and SW of the country considered most at risk and in England, that figure rises to almost 1 in 5 homes.
Build partners are already being sought for construction of the first Flood Resilient Property at the BRE Innovation Park in Watford to demonstrate the systems. It is understood the construction is likely to include a surrounding tank that will allow the building to be ‘flooded’, to show how systems such as barriers and rapid drainage systems would work.
The project is being headed up by BRE Construction Director, Dr Stephen Garvin.
He said, ‘Resilience remains a key issue for new housing – given the recent floods and their profound impact on people’s lives, it is more important than ever to step up research in this area and develop practical solutions.”
