Flood resilience
Flood resilient construction reduces the impacts from a flood event, facilitating recovery afterwards.
Concrete is inherently water resistant and suitable for construction designed to provide flood resilience. It retains its structural integrity when inundated and can be designed to keep significant volumes of water at bay with minimal intervention and maintenance. Its use in the construction of basements, swimming pools and water storage tanks demonstrates concrete's performance in this regard. Concrete is also extensively used for coastal and river flood defences.
Property level flood resilience
Property level flood resilience is a combination of both resistance and recoverable measures that can be incorporated into the fabric of a building to reduce the consequences of flood water affecting the property.
Categorisation of the flood resilient properties of various construction materials and guidance on appropriate detailing and design strategies is provided in the British Standard BS 85500:2015 Flood resistant and resilient construction – Guide to improving the flood performance of buildings. A revision is due for publication in 2025.
A water exclusion strategy, or resistance strategy, is designed to limit flood water entering the building and to give occupants more time to take other necessary measures to help reduce the impacts of water that does enter a building,
A water-entry strategy includes measures incorporated into the building to help speed up recovery following a flood event.
The resilience of a new property can be enhanced simply and effectively through the selection of appropriate material components and their detailing. While some design decisions may have a significant impact on the look of the property, this is not always the case and quite simple interventions can make significant improvements addressing a range of risks and with few major cost implications.
Concrete and masonry are recognised as appropriate and recommended materials for use in new buildings designed to provide flood resilience by offering flood resilience and supporting flood recovery.
More information on concrete and masonry construction in BS 85500 can be found here.
Concrete is inherently water resilient and entirely suitable in a construction designed to be either waterproof, as required for water barriers, or water resilient. Its use in the construction of basements, swimming pools and water storage tanks demonstrates concrete's performance in this regard. The extent to which the structure keeps out moisture depends on the specification of the concrete itself and its design details, corner junctions for example.
Categorisation of the flood resilient properties of various construction materials and guidance on appropriate flood management strategies is provided in the British Standard BS 85500:2015 Flood resistant and resilient construction – Guide to improving the flood performance of buildings.
A 2016 Action Plan sets out how businesses can make it easier for people to protect their homes from damage from flood water.
A water exclusion strategy, or resistance strategy, for low depth flooding, is designed to prevent flood water entering the building and minimise the impact of flood waters and to give occupants more time to relocate ground floor contents.
A water entry strategy, or resilience strategy, for greater flood depths includes measures incorporated into the building to reduce the impact of flood water on the property once water has entered.
Insitu and precast concrete have low permeability so resulting in minimal damage or deformation from a flood. They are appropriate for use in buildings that require either a water exclusion strategy or a water entry system, where other construction techniques could incur structural damage due to excessive differential pressures.
Summary of water exclusion strategy construction details:
- Concrete foundations: provide a barrier to water entry into the wall cavity.
- Floors: ground supported concrete slabs of min. 100mm thick can prevent loss of structural integrity due to uplift pressures due to water ingress from the ground.
- Walls: clear cavity or solid masonry walls offer better flood resilience than filled or part-filled cavity walls.
Summary of water entry strategy construction details:
- Floors: as for the water exclusion strategy
- Walls: as for the water exclusion strategy. Note: to meet current standards high density internal insulation can be used.