From flood damage to flood resilience

I’m the Climate Change Resilience Manager at Stonewater, working as part of our wider Sustainability team. My role is about looking at how we can make our residents’ homes and communities more resilient to climate change, and flooding is a big part of that.

Stonewater has around 40,000 homes and 93,000 customers across England. That’s a lot of homes and a lot of people, so I think we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to understand where the risks are and do something about them. We currently have 4,402 properties identified as being at high risk of surface water flooding, so this is something we must take seriously.

I have developed a flood strategy, approved by Stonewater’s board which provides oversight and direction, but for me, this isn’t just about having a strategy on paper. It’s about understanding what actually happens to our homes and customers when flooding occurs, and what we can do differently next time.

One of our schemes in Herefordshire has really brought this to life for me.

Understanding the risk

Our scheme in Herefordshire sits at the bottom of a steep valley, with the first major flooding event occurring in 2019.

When the river upstream bursts its banks, water comes down the main road. The road effectively becomes a river, directing the flood water straight towards the entrance to the scheme.

Up to 24 properties have been affected, with flooding inside homes, in gardens and sometimes blocking access to the scheme. There are lots of factors that could be contributing to this flooding, including changes to land and water management upstream, alongside increasingly stormy and persistent wet weather.

What I’ve found particularly interesting is that this scheme wasn’t identified as being at high risk of flooding in the available flood risk data. Surface water flooding isn’t always straightforward, changes to roads, land use and how water moves through an area can all make a difference, and sometimes a map simply doesn’t tell you the whole story.

Making residents’ homes more resilient

I’ve seen first-hand how much work can go into making a home more resilient after flooding.

At this Herefordshire scheme, flood doors and pumps beneath floors have been installed, alongside other work to help manage the water before it reaches properties. Steps, stone-filled baskets, a retaining wall, a slipway and changes to kerbs and footpaths have all been used to help redirect surface water back towards the watercourse.

Including planned works in autumn 2026, Stonewater will have invested more than £900,000 in property flood resilience (PFR) across the scheme, with ongoing annual maintenance costs of more than £7,500.

But for me, the really important question is: does it work when the next flood comes?

Preparing for the next flood

I wanted us to get better at predicting flooding, rather than simply reacting once the water arrives.

That’s why we partnered with Previsico, which provides technology that allows us to monitor water levels remotely. Sensors have been installed at three locations in the watercourse at this scheme.

After one winter season, I could already see the benefit. The alerts gave us earlier warning and meant we could take action – deploying sandbags, contacting customers and giving people time to move vehicles and belongings away from areas at risk.

It’s impossible to say exactly how much damage or cost we avoided. Flooding is unpredictable and other mitigation work was also taking place. But I do know that having that earlier warning has helped us respond more quickly and, most importantly, support our customers better.

This autumn, we're also installing flood fencing. As this is our largest PFR installation, I’m hoping it will give us a really good opportunity to understand what difference these measures make over time.

We can’t do this alone

One of the biggest challenges I’ve come across is figuring out who is responsible for finding and delivering a long-term solution.

Flooding doesn’t respect ownership boundaries – water doesn’t stop because it has reached the edge of a housing association’s land.

A long-term solution might involve the housing association, local authority, Environment Agency, landowners and others. It’s necessary to understand who the Lead Flood Authority is in each case. Agreeing the measures and finding solutions can take time.

In some cases – like this one – I’ve found that we’ve had to take action ourselves because our customers need protection now, even though a bigger, longer-term solution may still be under development.

I think this is an area where the government could really help housing associations. There is lots of guidance about responding to flooding, but much less practical guidance specifically about PFR.

Straightforward guidance on when PFR is appropriate, what measures could be considered, who needs to be involved and how this should link to wider flood plans would be incredibly useful.

Building resilience through nature

For me, flood resilience isn’t just about protecting individual buildings and residents. It’s also about looking at the wider environment around our homes.

Through Stonewater’s Nature Recovery Framework which will be published soon, I’m really interested in how nature can help us adapt to climate change and in turn better protect the health and wellbeing of our customers. Sustainable drainage and planting more trees, for example, can slow down and capture rainfall, helping to reduce the amount of water reaching our homes.

I think the future must be about combining practical measures like PFR with better information, partnership working and using nature to help manage water.

Flooding will continue to be a challenge, but I think every flood gives us an opportunity to learn.

For me, this estate in Herefordshire is a really good example of why we need to prepare for the next flood, rather than simply repairing the damage from the last one.