PROPERTY LEVEL FLOOD ADAPTATION MEASURES: A NOVEL APPROACH

Despite increased investment in flood defences, it is not economically viable to protect all at risk properties from the threat of flooding. This has led to a move towards encouraging property owners to take their own steps in making their homes or businesses less vulnerable to flooding. For example, the UK Government has introduced a grant aid scheme to encourage property level flood protection and has called for the development of new innovative flood approaches and products. Examining the effec-tiveness of current flood protection products including both resistance and resilience measures, with regard to water ingress, installation cost and acceptance by homeowners, reveals shortcomings with the existing measures. To address this issue, a novel solution is proposed that combines resistance and resilience adapted basement waterproofing, using an internal hollow skirting system (patent protected GB-2449777 and GB-2452423) to address the ingress of floodwaters into properties with solid floors. The method does not attempt to resist floodwaters but manages the water using ways that homeowners can appreciate. It is easy to install and is affordable in line with current grant aid. Furthermore, the new system can be installed in both existing and new build properties and, in doing so, offers complete property flood level protection. It is concluded that the new system may provide a practical solution towards the uptake of property level flood adaptation measures