| 'Improving the flood performance of new buildings: Flood resilient construction'
'Improving the flood performance of new buildings: Flood resilient construction' recognises that while planning policy aims to direct inappropriate development away from flood risk areas, some building will be necessary to maintain existing services and communities. Therefore, structures should be designed and constructed to keep people safe, reduce financial losses and speed up disaster recovery. Many experts predict that climate change could mean an increase in the prevalence of flooding as we experience milder, wetter winters and hotter drier summers. It is therefore important to construct new buildings in flood risk areas in a way that minimises flood damage and resilience measures have a role to play in ensuring the safety and robustness of necessary development. Lords Minister for Planning, Baroness Andrews said: "This guide provides essential advice about the way that necessary buildings in flood risk areas should be constructed. By developing new evidence on the resilience of different types of materials and construction, it offers clear advice to designers and developers on which methods should be employed". The guide has been developed in collaboration with the Environment Agency and alongside Defra's flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy. Flood resilience is defined as: Constructing a building in such a way that although flood water may enter the building its impact is reduced (i.e. no permanent damage is caused, structural integrity is maintained and drying and cleaning are facilitated).
•Date: 17th May 2007 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC facilities and buildings
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