Managing urban flooding from heavy rainfall - encouraging the uptake of designing for exceedance

This research evaluated how well designing for exceedance has been adopted following guidance issued in 2006, as well as new initiatives and best practice.

From:
Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme and Environment Agency
Published
22 February 2021
Category:
Whole life asset management
Topics:
Climate change, Design and build, Flood risk assessment, Resilient infrastructure, Spatial planning, Surface water, Sustainable drainage systems
Project status:
Completed
Project code:
SC120003
Date of completion:
31 July 2014

Documents

External link: Susdrain project pages

Details

This project examined new approaches to protecting urban drainage systems from being overwhelmed in times of heavy rainfall. This was done by temporarily storing surface water using highways, kerbs and other urban features. It assessed how these designs are adopted, and showcased good practice to develop a business case for this approach, known as ‘designing for exceedance’.

Outcomes

The research built on the publication of a good practice guide in 2006 (‘Designing for exceedance in urban drainage - good practice - CIRIA C635’) to assess how well the guidance has been adopted. It assesses initiatives pioneered since its publication.

The research has:

  • collected case studies
  • identified crucial factors
  • made recommendations to improve stakeholder collaboration and wider acceptance of the principles of the approach

This project was started in October 2012 and completed in July 2014.

Published 22 February 2021