ECOLOGY & BIODIVERSITY
PROTECTING EXISTING HABITATS
There was evidence of a summer vole population but only a few bats sighted and little diversity of wintering birds. This is a migratory habitat and the water vole population does no live here permanently.
The proposal includes allowance for bat roosts within the proposed buildings and sympathetic lighting to encourage more bats. Native fruit plants will also provide a source of food for them.
New drainage channels are designed to increase the migratory habitat provision for water voles.
Shrubbery planting will be maintained and replaced to retain and provide additional habitat for breeding birds and protection added for the salt marsh areas.
REDUCING FLOOD RISK
FOURFOLD APPROACH
FLOOD
DEFENCES
The site benefits from flood defences. These will be further improved to provide protection for the lifetime of the development.
SPACE
FOR WATER
New channels and storage areas are proposed to create additional space for water, to cope with stormy weather in the future.
RAISED
FLOOR LEVELS
The floor levels will be set at 5.6m AOD, which is nearly 2m above the current flood level,
future proofing the development against sea level rise.
SUSTAINABLE
DRAINAGE
A sustainable drainage system is built into the design to store rainwater on site before slowly releasing into the landscape.
RAISED PUBLIC REALM & LIVING SPACES
The public realm and all living spaces are raised above the 1 in 200 flood level, including allowing for climate change.
STOLON STUDIO - ROBERT BARKER
AQUATECTURE
The first book to outline new ways of `designing for water'.
LifE
Long-Term Initiatives for Flood-Risk Environments
METRIC HANDBOOK
Robert is an author of the Flooding Chapter
Stolon Studio are the architects of the new proposal. Robert Barker, a director of Stolon Studio, is a flood resilient design specialist. Robert is also an author of a number of influential books, including Aquatecture (RIBA publishing), Flood-aware Design, The Metric Handbook (Routledge) and Cities and Flooding (World Bank).
An expert in flood resilient design, Robert was the lead for the LifE project. This was one of six projects funded by Defra’s Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management – Innovation Fund, part of its making space for water programme.
​
Robert was also the lead for the Climate Adaptive Neighbourhoods (CAN) Project, part of the design for future climate programme.
