Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Abstract
Executive SummaryThis Defra research project (FD2706) was concerned with how the professionals and organisations involved in the recovery process following a flood incident interact with householders and business owners. In particular, the way in which decisions are made about reinstatement was examined, as there is a need to improve the understanding of the opportunities within the process for encouraging resilient repair. Resilient repair is the application of property flood resilience measures during the recovery period so that, should there be another flood, the householder or business owner can re-occupy their properties more quickly, which has well documented benefits. Installing some measures during recovery has also been shown to be more cost effective and potentially less disruptive than the retrofitting of measures at other times.The project had three elements: a quick scoping review; a series of case studies involving in-depth interviews with flooded households, small/micro-businesses and their repair networks; and, a series of facilitated group discussions with stakeholders to validate the findings of the Quick Scoping Review and case studies. Flow charts of the on-site and off-site processes and of the decisions involved in the repair of insured properties were developed to highlight the main points at which the ‘resilience’ of the reinstatement is determined. A list of 55 barriers and facilitators and a further list of 49 suggestions for change or wider application of good practice were extracted from the literature and interviews. Themes for improvement were developed and a selection of the suggestions was further explored in the facilitated group discussions.This document summarises all three elements of the project. The detailed findings of the Quick Scoping Review are also available in a separate report. Detailed findings from the in-depth interviews and workshops are available as appendices to this report
