Flood risk

Water management is a key element in virtually all building and urban regeneration projects. To maximise the potential of our developments in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way, effective water management is vital. Managing potential flood risk has become an increasingly high profile aspect of our work whether in response to UK flooding in 2007 or the terrible impacts of recent tsunamis.

We work closely with other specialist teams to deliver practical solutions on diverse complex projects around the world.

Our specialist engineers are experienced in carrying out Flood Risk Assessment (FRAs) to accompany any Planning Application where flood risk and surface water drainage issues factor in a proposed development. This applies from small developments to large strategic assessments on major urban regeneration schemes sited on flood plains. Thanks to our considered approach and careful methodology, a high proportion of client submitted applications involving FRAs are granted planning consent. We have a good working relationship with the Environment Agency and the planning authorities to facilitate a greater understanding of this developing field.

Our team draws on a range of engineering skills including hydrological analysis, coastal hydraulic modelling, surface runoff calculations and storm and foul drainage design. We work closely with other specialist teams within Buro Happold’s infrastructure group to deliver practical solutions on diverse complex projects around the world often in sensitive and difficult environments.

Related disciplines

  • Bridges & civil structures

    The bridges and civil engineering structures team at Buro Happold are experts in the design, construction and maintenance of bridges, tunnels and complex highway structures.

  • Coastal and marine

    Key to all aspects of engineering coastal sites is consideration of the environmental aspects from materials, sustainability and ecology to low impact construction techniques and long-term maintenance requirements.

  • Drainage and storm water management

    Water Resource Management (WRM) is the process by which all elements of the water cycle are considered within a project. It is increasingly important that water is considered as a single, finite resource.

  • Earthworks

    Our team is highly experienced in investigating, analysing, testing and managing the movement of earth and other material around a site to establish formation levels for building and landscaping.

  • Flood risk

    Water management is a key element in virtually all building and urban regeneration projects. To maximise the potential of our developments in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way, effective water management is vital.

  • Geoenvironmental

    The rise in urban regeneration schemes and the need to conserve green spaces in towns and city centres means that many developments are now situated on old industrial brownfield sites. With this transition brings special challenges - cost, risk and liability.

  • Geotechnical

    Buro Happold’s geotechnical group provides its clients with the capability to complete structural, building and civil engineering solutions.

  • Highway engineering

    Highway engineering forms a key part of Buro Happold’s Infrastructure group. With an integrated approach to major urban strategies and masterplan projects, our highway design experts work on some of the most high profile and ambitious projects in the world.

  • People movement

    In the wider built environment, Buro Happold’s People Movement management capability has been applied to optimise circulation in a whole multitude of areas.

  • Transport planning

    Buro Happold’s transport planning team provides a wide range of services to both private and public sector clients. Our team values its client relationships very highly and considers them vital to the success of the project, be it local or international.

  • Utilities engineering

    Utilities infrastructure strategy is an important aspect of any land development or masterplanning process and provides a mechanism for bringing all aspects of development together.

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Happold Consulting

Project

KAMA Tri-City Integrated Masterplan

22/11/2012

The Kama Tri-City region is one of the major industrial centres in Russia. It sits upon 30% of the world’s potash resources, a key fertiliser, and also holds metals, oil and gas reserves. It should be a buoyant area. All the major businesses together with new players have plans for expansion. Instead it is suffering from a declining working-age population and increasing proportion of elderly residents.

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Happold Consulting

Project

Dar es Salaam Development Strategy

19/11/2012

Dar Es Salaam faces some key social and economic challenges as one of the poorest countries in Africa, with growing inequality despite GDP growth of 5-6% per year. There is a growing backlog of urban infrastructure requirements and transportation relies primarily on privately provided mini-buses. Water and electricity household connections remain low and 80% of housing is ‘informal’. In the past, masterplans for the city have not been implemented due to a lack of coordinated planning and inadequate resources.

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Ad’Diriyyah Comprehensive Development Plan thumbnail
Happold Consulting

Project

Ad’Diriyyah Comprehensive Development Plan

15/11/2012

Ad’Diriyyah represents a series of stunning historic oasis settlements situated in Wadi Hanifah, itself an area of outstanding natural beauty, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh. The site is both the location for the founding of modern Saudi Arabia as well as the birth of the Wahab school of Islam (the “Oneness Movement”).

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Buro Happold

Project

Bath Western Riverside Redevelopment

17/10/2012

As one of the largest brownfield regeneration projects in the south west, Bath Western Riverside comprises approximately 70 acres of land west of the city centre adjoining the river Avon. The project is a major opportunity for Bath to deliver a platform for the city’s future economic and social prosperity.

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Happold Consulting

Project

Al Ha’ir Lakes

06/09/2012

Al Ha’ir Lakes is the fifth and final zone of Wadi Hanifah. Located 25km downstream of Riyadh, Al Ha’ir is at the end of the wadi catchment and receives the greatest amount of water flow in the Wadi. Working with the client, we identified the Lakes District site as a valuable open space resource for the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. In addition the site contains an internationally recognised and largest wetland habitat in the Kingdom.

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Buro Happold

Project

Tun Razak Exchange

13/08/2012

Buro Happold is currently working on the 70 acre development in the Imbi area fronting Jalan Tun Razak. The Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) is a key enabler to strengthen the position of Kuala Lumpur as the global financial city of choice. TRX aims to bring together leading financial institutions and top global companies to create a catalytic pool of world-class players. 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is the Master Developer for TRX.

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Buro Happold

Project

London 2012 Olympic Park

14/06/2012

The masterplanning and design of the London Olympic Park and Legacy proposals began in autumn 2003. Part of the EDAW Consortium, Buro Happold provided strategic engineering advice and design. The challenge was to develop a setting for the Games which achieved both planning approvals from the four local London Boroughs and provided a compelling masterplan for a successful bid to the International Olympic Committee in Singapore in July 2005.

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Buro Happold

Project

Stratford Town City Link

26/09/2011

Stratford Town City Link was a proposal for a new state of the art pedestrian bridge over a railway that links Stratford station in east London to a new shopping complex developed by Westfield.

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Buro Happold

Project

Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City

26/05/2011

The site of the Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City development is adjacent to the Arabian Gulf coastline, 85km south of Kuwait City. From two environmentally impoverished hyper saline creeks, an ecologically rich waterway city is growing....

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Buro Happold

Project

Wadi Hanifah

05/05/2011

Wadi Hanifah is a 120km long, 4500km2 watershed that passes through the capital city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Located in the middle of the Najd Plateau it has been labelled the most significant natural feature in the region.

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Buro Happold

News

Buro Happold delivers innovative flood-proofed science centre

05/11/2010

Warsaw’s Copernicus Science Centre opens on the banks of the Vistula Thirteen years after the concept was first mooted, Warsaw’s newest attraction, the Copernicus Science Centre, has celebrated its opening with a...

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Buro Happold

News

Buro Happold undertakes South Humber Channel Marine Studies for renewable energy proposals

06/08/2010

Yorkshire Forward commissions consultancy as part of environmental studies team Situated on the east coast of north England, the Humber Estuary is the UK’s largest port complex, handling on average 40,000 ship movements...

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