Surveying for flood resilience at the level of an individual property

The research examines how building a group of competent surveyors can encourage the wider adoption of property level protection as a way of managing flood risk.

Documents

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties - technical report (1MB) PDF

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties: inception report - annex 1 (1.5MB) PDF

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties: case studies - annex 2 (1.5MB) PDF

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties: competency framework - annex 3 (344KB) PDF

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties: householder guide - annex 4 (461KB) PDF

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties: competency training routemap - annex 5 (308KB) PDF

Surveying for flood resilience in individual properties: guidance - annex 6 (829KB) PDF

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

Background

Property Level Protection (PLP) has developed rapidly in the last few years as one way of reducing the impact of flooding. The most important benefit of property level protection is its role in limiting the damage (physical and psychological) caused by flooding. It may also have a role in enabling people to access insurance more easily, possibly even reducing premiums and excess payments.

Evidence from existing PLP schemes suggests that important barriers to growth in uptake are due to the lack of: * specialist capacity amongst surveyors * independent verification of this capacity to build consumer confidence

Approach

This study develops an evidence base to support the Defra objective of building flood resilience. This is by developing a group of surveyors who can advise on property level protection measures competently. The project identifies best practice and evaluates current and future options for achieving this objective.

The approach included case study investigations, a literature review and community engagement.

Results

The study found that the Independent Flood Risk Assessor (iFRA) role, as identified in this project, requires a unique blend of skills and knowledge. These include a thorough understanding of the: * flood risks and sources * building construction * full range of PLP products that are available * needs and abilities of the person and family living in that property

Whilst a PLP scheme is typically an order of magnitude lower in cost than a traditional community defence, there remains a need to adequately assess the: * flood risks * property * needs of the people who are vulnerable to flood risk

Independent Flood Risk Assessors must be able to identify the most appropriate resistance and / or resilient measures given the flood, the people at flood risk, and the building’s performance under flood conditions.

Updates to this page

Published 23 February 2021