A total of 11 flood-resistant homes that employ a host of innovative features to keep their residents dry have been built on a flood plain in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The homes, designed by London-based Baca Architects and built by Grewolde Construction, sit on a regenerated brownfield site that has lain dormant for over a decade.
A gently ramped road provides access from the middle of the site to the raised levels of the houses and an elevated pedestrian and cycle path to the west, provide a through-route across the site which acts as a safe haven during flood events. The houses are built on raised piles with a floodable zone below which is guarded from debris by louvered screens. The green space remaining is landscaped, rain gardens and swales help to retain and control water run-off.
The redevelopment of the site will see no bed spaces provided at ground floor. All the principal floors are above the Environment Agency’s 100-year plus 20% climate change fluvial flood level of 37.18m above ordnance datum (AOD).
Dwellings are elevated on stilts with their voids protected by permeable “flood trims” around their perimeter. Steps and amenity terraces that make up the level changes between the ground and habitable floor levels are also permeable to encourage flow of floodwater.
