Climate change is impacting upon the resilience of many forms of infrastructure, notably those that fulfil a flood and coastal risk function. The FCRM strategy for England acknowledges this, encouraging that today’s growth and infrastructure should be resilient to tomorrows climate. Likewise, the Defra FCRM Policy statement states within its vision (p28) to Ensure buildings, important infrastructure sites and key public services are better prepared to manage flood risk.
As flood events increase in frequency and magnitude some structures that were not designed as flood defences are being increasingly relied upon as part of flood and coastal risk management asset systems. These include transport assets, land drainage and other 3rd party structures.
Formally, these assets should be designated as fulfilling a FCRM function. This designation provides a form of legal protection or status for privately-owned structures to prevent their function being compromised. This project will review the application of the designation process in the UK and, citing case studies, describe the resulting responsibilities and liabilities. The project will also consider if there is the potential for improvements to the designation process.
Status
This project is underway
Further information
If you are interested in this topic, please contact Dr Andy Moores at CIRIA.