Effects of flood defence investment on land and property value

This project examined evidence that investment in flood defence infrastructure increased the value of surrounding land and property.

• From: Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 24 February 2021

• Category: Whole life asset management
• Topics: Asset performance, Flood costs, Investment, Resilient infrastructure
• Project status: Completed
• Project code: WT1562 (Project 12)
• Date of completion: 31 March 2018

Documents

Scoping review: uplifts associated with flood defence - final report (552 KB) PDF

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Details

This quick scoping review collected evidence to investigate whether investing in flood defence infrastructure resulted in any increase in local land and property values. It also:

• examined secondary questions around the type of infrastructure involved
• sought out specific examples where individuals had benefited financially from investment in flood defences or costs had been recovered - incentives for landowners to make such investments, and impacts on insurance costs

The project consisted of a literature search which collected 1639 individual results, and semi-structured interviews with eight relevant experts. It also included responses by email from an additional expert.

The report identified 56 studies for further screening, with 10 of these studies meeting the defined screening criteria.

The project started in 2014 and was completed in 2018, at a cost of £22,430.

Published 24 February 2021