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 the Environment Agency’s report after Storm Angus, the country can expect these weather events to continue.
Clare Dinnis, Deputy Director of Strategy at the EA said of the event: “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 Flood and Coast 2017 exhibition and conference 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, civil engineers, infrastructure owners, consultancies, utility companies, contractors, businesses, community groups, flood research consultants and universities from across the UK.
David Wilkes of Arup, a global flood resilience specialist and an exhibitor at the event in March, said: “There needs to be a genuine and meaningful debate about land-use.” He also called for a greater tolerance of flooding risk, and an improvement in our understanding of how buildings and public spaces link, about how 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. There will be over 150 senior Environment Agency personnel present at the event.
The key areas that the event will cover include: Coastal flooding and erosion (with over 1 million properties estimated to be at risk from coastal flooding by 2030); Flood Alleviation and Water Management; Emergency Planning; Infrastructure and Cities; Modelling and Forecasting; Partnerships; and People and Communities.
The Flood and Coast Exhibition and an accompanying series of seminars on the exhibition floor are free to attend for all. Those interested can register now on www.floodandcoast.com. The Flood and Coast Conference running alongside the exhibition hosts an in-depth debate about all the key flooding and coastal erosion issues and how they may be solved. The conference has around 170 speakers, and the full conference programme can be found on www.floodandcoast.com along with prices for one day or three day tickets.
Flood and Coast 2017 is sponsored by Van Oord, VBA, CH2M Flood Modeller Suite, Aecom, HR Wallingford, Mackley and IBS Group.
