Flood Resilience

During the winter of 2015/16, storms Desmond and Eva caused flooding in the north west of England that resulted in damage to thousands of properties, at a cost estimated by the Environment Agency of around £1.6 billion.

This prompted the setting up of a Roundtable of private and public sector members to deliver the Property Flood Resilience Action Plan of recommendations and action to make the UK more flood resilient.  BRE’s CEO at the time, Peter Bonfield, was asked to Chair this initiative by Rory Stewart MP (then Environment and Rural Affairs minister), and five Task Groups looking at different aspects of flooding were set up.

What is Property Flood Resilience?

The term flood resilience combines resistance to flooding with recoverability should flooding occur.  Resistance involves keeping floodwater out of a building.  Recoverability refers to measures taken to enable homes or businesses to quickly recover if flood water does enter.

Hear about Flood Resilience here

Flood Resilient Demonstration House

Opening in February 2017, the Flood Resilient Repair House is an exemplar facility created through the collaboration between many companies and suppliers, with the common goal of demonstrating what a flood resilient property could and should look like.

The house shows how simple changes can transform a home to become flood resilient using both resilience and resistance measures that significantly reduced the impacts of flooding.

Read the full case study