Case study
The Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP) funded Resilient Roch project addresses local climate challenges (including flood risk) faced by residents in disadvantaged communities through the delivery of coordinated property surveys.
The target communities are penetrated by watercourses and host many properties at significant fluvial as well as surface water flood risk. This has heightened in recent years and is only set to increase with climate change and with ever greater pressures on the urban environment and its green and blue infrastructure.
Many households in the target communities are subject to multiple disadvantages impacting health, wellbeing, the environment, and living standards, often leaving people disproportionately vulnerable to flooding.
Like many post-industrial towns, Rochdale’s inner-urban housing stock is dominated by densely constructed late Victorian and Edwardian-era red-brick terracing, though there are some areas of more recently developed housing. Some of the housing is over a century old and in a poor state of repair. Typical features requiring repair or renewal include property roofing, pointing and remedial work to cellars that suffer from severe damp. In addition, and largely due to these characteristics, the energy efficiency of properties is often low, with some offered improvements through previous programmes, including Green Deal for Communities and previous iterations of the Energy Company Obligations (ECO).
The project team established partnerships to test a streamlined process for conducting multiple surveys simultaneously on private properties (Property Flood Resilience with ‘backyard’ Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), property condition and energy efficiency).
This approach brought numerous benefits, including improved coordination, integrated interventions, and enhanced convenience and efficiency. There were also challenges, particularly regarding securing co-ordination and the need to develop a detailed knowledge base of properties and residents through thorough community engagement, which was supported by the National Flood Forum.
The surveys
The project aligned various funding streams and housing renewal objectives to maximise improvements in the housing stock. By addressing underlying issues that heighten residents’ vulnerability to flooding and fuel poverty, the surveys tackled key challenges faced by people in deprived areas.
Initially, three separate surveys were conducted for each property—assessing energy performance, structural condition (dilapidation), and PFR with backyard SuDS (see Figure 1). These were later consolidated into two surveys after overlapping elements and redundancies were streamlined.
Delivering multiple surveys over an extended period required strong coordination and communication. Many residents appreciated the convenience of joint visits, as it reduced their time commitment and disruption and improved their participation. Surveyors were able to coordinate and communicate interventions more effectively and identify critical safety issues; for example one property was deemed uninhabitable.
There where challenges with undertaking different survey types simultaneously, for example the duration of each survey type varied greatly which impacted on the programme’s wider delivery and funding schedule. Therefore, following a review of the initial survey pilot, some practical adjustments were made to the methodology to ensure that the surveys were completed as efficiently as possible. However, the need for two individual surveys caused confusion amongst some residents who did not realise that multiple surveys were required which initially increased administrative workload, but this challenge was overcome with improved communication to residents about the project which was explained when they initially expressed interest in the scheme through the council.
Rochdale Borough Council were the first point of contact for residents to sign-up to the project. The council team retained control of bookings for the energy efficiency and building condition surveys, whilst JBA Consulting booked PFR surveys with residents once the council had informed them who had signed up, demonstrating effective collaboration and communication between the project teams.
Clear project ‘Resilient Roch’ branding, along with consistent project contact details from Rochdale Borough Council ensured efficient communication which helped to minimise resident confusion and provide reassurance that contracts were legitimate.
The project produced co-benefits by encouraging cross-team collaboration and innovation and in housing strategy delivery. Completed reports were shared with residents and landlords.
Following the initial round of surveys and a review of their scope and content, the RICS survey was deemed optional for many properties, particularly where no clear structural issues were identified. The general PFR and EPR report, along with the subsequent Watertight fitting assessment, was typically sufficient to flag cases where a more detailed structural survey was necessary. If the RICS survey is no longer a baseline requirement, it’s important to avoid implying to others that it is always essential.
Other project information
The research was funded by the Flood and Coastal Resilience and Innovation Programme and has been produced in partnership with Rochdale Borough Council and the National Flood Forum. Delivery of this was only possible by working in partnership with JBA Consulting, Eclipse, Groundwork GM, Watertight and Rochdale Borough Council LLFA and Housing Team
The surveys remained distinct but were conducted concurrently wherever possible. This allowed surveyors to co-ordinate their activity and would ensure that any installation to improve one aspect of the property would be complementary with other installed measures; for example it facilitated specification of more flood resilient alternatives for cavity wall insulation.
Communications were centralised within the core Resilient Roch team at RBC to provide a coherent identity to the work, to bolster residents’ confidence in the scheme and to provide them with a single point of contact for administrative or technical questions. This branding also helped provide integration with communications from the River Roch EA flood defence scheme, and the running of joint events such as informational drop-ins.
Completing the surveys concurrently encouraged early interaction between contractors and allowed some surveys to be completed at the same time on a property, making the process more convenient for the property occupier.
“…from the beginning we’ve wanted to do it under the umbrella of the Council so that residents are reassured that it is a non-profit scheme, it’s not a scam, that it’s in keeping with the previous work that was done for the Storm Eva grant…We’re trying to project manage through us so that people are aware it’s one and the same project.” Delivery Manager, Resilient Roch
Being prepared for potential flooding is an important element of being flood resilient as it leads to approaches to use PFR measures. It’s about understanding your flood risk, now and for the future.
