Future Proofing New Housing Developments Through Flood-Resilient Design

National housing delivery is a topic that currently dominates our headlines, as well as the conversation in Westminster. To lower the waiting lists for social housing and to extend home ownership to more people, planning policies are frequently reviewed, and new targeted promises are made to rapidly build new housing and infrastructure for the UK’s growing population.

What’s more, the UK’s existing housing infrastructure wasn’t designed for the changing climate realities we face today. The Environment Agency warns that 6 million properties in the UK are at risk of flooding as El Niño causes wet and windy conditions in the months ahead of us.

The lesson for new build developments is clear. Beyond building homes and amenities quickly, climate resilience must be built in from the start, considering future populations and conditions to ensure developments remain safe and functional for generations to come.

Why water management infrastructure must be prioritised

Traditional drainage approaches are often designed to remove water from site as quickly as possible, but as extreme weather events become more common, that strategy alone is not enough to deliver adequate flood protection to people and places. It costs a staggering £30,000, on average, to resolve the damage to a flooded house. Not to mention the risk of stormwater overloading sewers and spreading disease.

This means every minute counts to ensure water is managed, from the moment it touches roofs and roads, in order to minimise flood risks resiliently. New developments must be designed with infrastructure that works harder to protect communities in the future.

Getting the basics better

As the first stage in an integrated water management strategy, Wavin’s Osma range of gutter rainwater systems handles up to 30% more rainwater to comparable systems.

Each of the six gutter profile systems come with extra wide seals to mitigate thermal expansion and reduce incidents of overspill with higher front edge profiles.

Capturing rainwater and channelling it away from the home is only half the challenge. Once water has been directed safely from the roof, there needs to be somewhere for peak flows to actually go.

The next layer of protection

That’s where Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) can play a key role in slowing and storing water to help developments better manage rainfall before it enters overloaded drainage networks.

For example, Wavin’s AquaCell NG system uses modular underground units to create attenuation tanks. These structures temporarily store excess stormwater before releasing it at a controlled rate, either infiltrating naturally into the ground or to the available sewer network.

When we change our focus from seeing water as a waste product to seeing it as a resource that we can store and control, SuDS bring a range of benefits for biodiversity within communities. This methodology utilises natural drainage processes by encouraging natural evaporation and filtering water through vegetation.

Managing runoff quality is equally important alongside water quantity. Wavin's Certaro Lamella HDS supports the treatment of surface water runoff by removing fine sediment and associated pollutants before it reaches downstream drainage systems, helping to improve water quality and protect infrastructure performance over the long term.

The same vegetation that supports biodiversity also cools urban areas during heatwaves and improves air quality for residents.

Taking action on flooding resilience

Protecting housing developments from increasing flood risk means considering water management holistically and by planning for extreme, worst-case scenarios. New developments present a unique opportunity to embed resilience from the outset, ensuring water management isn’t a reactive measure once new rainfall patterns emerge. Minimising flood damage lies in slowing water down before it reaches the sewer network, and SuDS are designed to do exactly that by managing rainfall close to where it falls.

Effective flood resilience requires every stage of water management to work together to keep homes safe, maintain clear footpaths, reduce transport disruptions and safeguard critical utilities. Switching the priority from quick drainage to secure water storage delivers benefits that extend beyond flood protection to support community wellbeing and environmental quality.

For more information on Wavin’s urban climate-resilient solutions, visit https://wavin.com/gb/solutions/urban-climate-resil...

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About Wavin UK

Wavin is an innovative solution provider for the building and infrastructure industry across multiple continents. Backed up by 60+ years of expertise, we are geared up to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges around: water supply, sanitation, climate-resilient cities and building performance.  

At Wavin, we focus on creating positive change in the world and our passion is building liveable and loveable places. We engage and collaborate with city leaders, engineers, planners and installers to help make cities future-proof and buildings comfortable and energy-efficient.

Wavin is part of Orbia, a community of companies bound together by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Wavin has 12,000+ employees in 40+ countries worldwide and operates under brands like Wavin, Amanco and Pavco. 

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