Joint construction industry response to the recent flooding

On 27th February Suzanne Simmons, Project Manager at CIRIA, attended a round-table meeting convened by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) to discuss a joint construction industry response to the recent flooding crisis.

The aim of the meeting was to identify in the broadest sense how the construction industry could collectively support and lead a response to flooding, both for the immediate future as well as over the longer term. With no single or simple solution to this situation, the need for a collaborative response from professionals was explored on issues of water management, drainage solutions, development planning and sustainability. Discussions focussed on how well the gathered professions currently work together; what challenges existed that might prevent collaboration; and what should happen next to enable a coordinated approach.

It was acknowledged by all that working together with clear, shared objectives was a better way of proceeding rather than operating separately. Whilst acknowledged differences existed between organisations, there was strong support for this group to be used as a future conduit for a cross industry response.

CIRIA fully supports this coordinated response and actively promotes professional and industry collaboration through its work on flood risk management, sustainable drainage, infrastructure asset management and water sensitive urban design.

Joining CIRIA, the meeting was attended by CIC members from RTPI, CIC, RIBA, ICE, BBA, the Ground Forum, the Landscape Institute, BIFM, BRE, CABE, CIBSE, Environmental Geotechnics, Ryder Landscape, IStructE, LABC, Geotechnical Consulting Group and University of Oxford.

Recent relevant guidance published by CIRIA includes C714 Transport infrastructure drainage: condition appraisal and remedial treatment, and will shortly release findings on how to improve the uptake of designing for exceedance.

Current projects include the update of the SuDS Manual, and the development of an evaluation tool to assess the potential and multiple benefits of SuDS.

For up to date news and links to guidance and further information go to the susdrain website.