Sustainable Housing Development in Flood Risk Zones for Lincolnshire County Council

RAB in a consortium with JMP and Smiths Gore provided expert advice on flood resistant and resilient design methods in a bid to find sustainable and safe housing in coastal flood risk zones in Lincolnshire. 

The work was part of the Lincolnshire Coastal Pathfinder project and considered six different sites within Boston and looked at the ways they can be developed sustainably in the face of flood risk.

The project delivered a toolkit to assist builders and developers to further understand the complex issues around building in a flood zone, while providing them with practical ‘on the ground’ solutions.

RAB advised throughout and led the development of a national handbook of flood resistance and resilience measures. The handbook is being used by Lead Local Flood Authorities to evaluate the effectiveness and value of flood protection products and at the same time give a background when advising third parties on the relative merits of different types of resilience and mitigation measure. The handbook includes a survey of the latest flood protection products available with guidance as to their use, cost, advantages and disadvantages.

The project involved extensive consultation with product manufacturers/suppliers, Environment Agency, DEFRA, Association of British Insurers, British Insurance Brokers Association, Flood Protection Association and the Emergency Planning Society. This included a number of workshops and other meetings designed to give opportunities for views to be clearly expressed and decisions made regarding solutions.

In addition we contributed to Lincolnshire’s Supplementary Planning Documents for development in flood risk zones and produced a guide to safe development in flood risk zones for emergency planning officers.