The UK’s largest flood and coastal erosion event

Led again by the Environment Agency, the second edition of Flood and Coast will take place in Telford, 28-30 March 2017, drawing together key stakeholders from the flood and coastal erosion risk management community

Following some of the most dramatic flood and coastal erosion incidents that the UK has witnessed in recent history, an intensive three-day conference and exhibition convened by the Environment Agency has been finalised.

The UK has undergone some of the most devastating damage from inland flooding and coastal erosion in the past three or four years and according to a recent Environment Agency report in the wake of Storm Angus – the country can expect these weather events to continue.

Clare Dinnis, deputy director of Strategy at the Environment Agency and chair of the conference, said: “No one body can provide a fully rounded response to flood risk management. Local flood authorities, the Environment Agency, other risk management authorities and our partners all have a part to play. As do the communities and businesses who face the risk.

“We want to bring the whole flood and coast risk management community together to hear from one another, learn from each other and share perspectives. It is only by listening to those who suffer from flooding that we can truly understand the devastating impacts that we are trying to reduce.”

The event will take place from 28 - 30 March at the Telford International Centre and will draw together key stakeholders from the flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCRM) community, including local authorities, over 150 senior staff from the Environment Agency, civil engineers, infrastructure owners, consultancies, utility companies, contractors, businesses, community groups, flood research consultants and universities from across the country - as well as over 150 key speakers from across the UK and abroad.

David Wilkes of Arup, global flood resilience leader and exhibitor at the event in March, said: “There needs to be a genuine and meaningful debate about land-use, a tolerance of flooding risk, about how the buildings and public spaces link, about roads, parks, cycle ways and footpaths and other infrastructure will work in normal times and in times of flood.”

Flood and Coast 2017 aims to share the latest ideas and showcase up to the minute flood defence solutions to help prevent future flooding for local authorities and stakeholders. The key areas that the event will cover include: coastal flooding and erosion; flood alleviation and water management; emergency planning; infrastructure and cities; modelling and forecasting; partnerships; and people and communities.

Local authorities
This year’s Flood and Coast will have a particular emphasis on attracting local authorities to engage with the Environment Agency and other stakeholders from throughout the country and abroad.

Grant Collier, director at Flood and Coast, said: “Last year there was a great deal of interest from local authorities wishing to learn from other stakeholders and there is much that can be learned from thought leaders in the UK and from other countries such as Holland. Flood and Coast 2017 not only has a great deal of content within the technical paid for conference but also has a series of free seminars aimed at local authorities in the exhibition theatre at the free-to-attend exhibition. Visitors can join either the technical conference or the exhibition and the free ‘Seminar Live’ series, but we know from last year many will opt to attend both. Passes are available for both one or three days.”

The Conference
The conference programme will involve over 150 top speakers across the three days.

Amongst others sessions, conference streams will include: Water – Managing the extremes; Is your infrastructure your most important asset?; Planning for Flood Risk; Community leadership on flood and coastal risk; Learning from international cities’ approach to flood risk; Under pressure – responding to a flood emergency; Funding for flood alleviation; Flood Recovery lessons learned; Our cities are the powerhouses of UK economic growth – are we doing enough to make them resilient to flood?; Delivering property level resilience; Community flood groups in their own words – managing local flood risk; Best Practice Training and Support for Lead Local Flood Authorities; The Future of sustainable drainage; Managing the risks to UK’s critical national infrastructure; Developments in Coastal Flood forecasting; Managing the risks to rail and road bridges from scour; Community flood risk planning – what can we offer people at risk and how can they get involved?; Sustainable Coastal communities; Health and flooding – the latest research and how to use it; and Natural flood alleviation in practice.

The conference programme has been very competitively priced to appeal to local authority and government departmental budgets. One day passes for full access to the conference start at £195 and three day full access start at £387. The exhibition and exhibition theatre seminars are free to attend for all.

Flood and Coast 2017 Exhibition
Alongside the Technical Conference, a free-to-attend exhibition and a series of free seminars will also be available called the ‘Seminar Live’ series. Some of the products and technology on display include a very effective system designed, manufactured and installed by IBS - glass flood defence systems, the first was installed in Keswick in 2011. IBS also installed the UK’s largest glass flood defence system to protect the village of Paull, near Hull, from future tidal surges and as a part of the wider Hull and Holderness Flood Alleviation Scheme, a project that is providing defences along the Humber estuary together with inland engineering works.

At Flood & Coast 2017, as well as showcasing its latest range of engineered defence products including a unique self activating flood barrier and market leading flood security steel doors, UK Flood Barriers will also be unveiling a new, state of the art flood gates – a must see for anyone looking for highly effective, ‘easy operation’ protection.

Since last year’s Flood & Coast, Hesselberg Hydro has been very busy repairing and strengthening seawalls along the Essex and Suffolk coastlines. Replacing revetments comprising individual units (concrete blocks) with continuous asphalt revetments provides the client with a robust, flexible, long-lasting protection using proven techniques. Projects have been on the rivers Blackwater, Crouch, Thames & Alde as well as along the North Sea coast. Its research and development team in the Netherlands have been involved in a multi-national project to set up tests to confirm anecdotal evidence that OSA can withstand water velocities of over 10 m/s when used to protect spillways.

ESG will also be exhibiting and is the UK’s leading provider of testing, inspection and compliance services, with comprehensive solutions in energy and waste, infrastructure and the built environment. Experts within environmental testing, site investigation, surveys and materials testing, will be on hand to discuss the many ways that ESG can support national targets for flood risk management and response over the coming years at Flood and Coast 2017.

Working with primary stakeholders, designers, contractors and suppliers, ESG provides an unrivalled range of independent accredited services, including: land and marine surveys; chemical analysis of soils and water; structural investigations; concrete and earthworks testing; asbestos surveys; ground investigations; contaminated land assessments; noise and vibration monitoring; and metallurgy.

Annual Flood and Coast Dinner and Networking Reception
The Flood and Coast annual awards dinner will take place on Wednesday 29 March during which the Environment Agency will present the Special Project Awards. The evening will be hosted by stand up comedian and comedy writer Dominic Holland who has appeared on Have I got News for you and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. A drinks reception will take place at 17.30 Hours on Tuesday 28th March which is free for all to attend.