Building damage as a result of flood waters

It has been announced this week by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) that up to 200,000 homes across England and Wales could face significant problems obtaining insurance when the insurance industry’s voluntary agreement over flooding ends in June 2013.

The ABI has mapped the areas with the highest risk of flooding by analysing Environment Agency flood data for England and Wales to highlight those areas where residents could struggle to insure their homes in the future. In 92 of the 573 parliamentary constituencies there are 1,000 or more homes at high flood risk.

Boston and Skegness head the list, with 7,550 homes facing significant risk. This is followed by the Vale of Clwyd, with 7,339 homes at risk, Folkestone and Hythe (7,196), Windsor (7,125), and Runnymede and Weybridge (6,541).

The current Flood Insurance Statement of Principles agreement with the Government in 2000 as a short-term measure ends in June 2013. Until then insurers will continue to offer flood insurance to existing customers including those at high risk. The ABI have stated that this will not be renewed as it grossly distorts the insurance market. The ABI have warned that a new sustainable long-term solution needs to be urgently agreed to avoid as many as 200,000 high-risk households facing problems in getting flood insurance after June 2013.

If you are concerned that your, or your client’s, property may fall within one of the areas at highest risk of flooding do not hesitate to contact Wilbourn Associates. For just £37.00 + VAT you can obtain a GreenLight Residential report which will provide a risk-based opinion not only on flood risk but also provides opinions on contamination and mining & ground instability issues.

Should your property be shown to be at high risk of flooding we would recommend that the new Flood Protection Survey report provided by Wilbourn Associates is obtained. At a cost of just £250.00 + VAT for residential properties (with an additional 10% discount if a GreenLight Residential report has been ordered) this report offers a unique approach to the consideration of flood risk.

Significant flooding during the 2007 Sheffield floods

The new Flood Protection Survey report identifies potential flood risk, includes a site walkover by a Chartered Environmental Surveyor to examine potential pathways for flood water to enter the property and makes appropriate recommendations for mitigating against flood risk.

For further information please contact one of our surveyors on 0114 243 5500.

Related articles

• Flood Protection Survey Report

Sources of contamination will typically include chemical or biological toxins which havebeen used in an industrial or construction process undertaken on the site. Soils may alsohave been contaminated because of mining activities, by agricultural use or naturallyoccurring heavy metals and high levels of chemicals.
An example of soil contamination would be by fragments of asbestos sheeting.Thiswas used widely in the construction industry as well as in various industrial processesbut was subsequently found to be highly toxic and a threat to human health. Sites whereasbestos is present in large amounts are often classified as highly contaminated.

Because contamination by definition poses a risk to human health and/or environmentalsafety, such land cannot be developed until it has been remediated.
The high costs and timescales often associated with remediation may impederedevelopment, particularly in urban areas where contamination prevents regenerationof post industrial sites / brownfield sites. However, national and local governmentsare keen to see these sites remediated, as they can be the key to reversing negativedemographic and social changes in an area.

Local authorities and the Environment Agency have seen their powers to enforce privatelandowners to undertake remediation systematically expand since the early 1990’s andnow have considerable powers to enforce the process.

As part of a property acquisition or due diligence exercise where the land is suspected tobe contaminated, then the first point of contact should be an environmental surveyor.

Environmental surveyors are a specially trained group of surveyors who are expertsin using a range of methods to detect the nature and extent of contamination.Environmental surveyors will typically use an assortment of methods to survey oneparticular site which may include soil sampling, consultation of historical documents suchas maps and site surveys.

As well as identifying the exact extent and nature of contamination, an environmentalsurveyor will recommend steps for remediation and advise on the exact legalramifications of contamination on both development and obligations to carry outremediation.

The changes to the legislation have been proposed as there has been a lack of compliance with the legislation ever since it was implemented in 2007. The changes are designed to encourage compliance and increase prosecutions for non-compliance.

The core proposed changes to the legislation are as follows:-

1. The duty to commission an EPC before marketing a property will be extended to the sale and rent of commercial buildings (currently only applied to residential buildings);

2. The current 28-day period within which an EPC should be obtained using “all reasonable efforts” will be reduced to 7 days;

3. The requirement to include an EPC with written particulars will apply to commercial buildings whether offered for sale or rent (currently only applied to residential buildings); and

4. The powers of Trading Standards Officers will be increased so they can force estate agents and letting agents (not just landlords or building owners) to prove that an EPC has been commissioned and make a copy of it available for inspection.

If you are considering marketing your commercial property in the near future make sure you don’t fall foul of the impending changes and instruct your EPC at the earliest opportunity. Contact Wilbourn Associates’ BRE accredited energy assessors for further information.

GreenLight® Searches is an excellent initial study which helps identify the important issues that may affect a property. This is achieved by undertaking pertinent enquires to the relevant authorities. For example, these enquiries could be to the Environmental Health Department, the Planning Department, Building Control, Environment Agency and the Petroleum Licensing Authority and will be customised according to the property requirements.

In addition to environmental risk assessment, some commercial properties and circumstances may require additional work to ascertain the data and information which is held by regulatory authorities in respect of the specific property and is not in the public domain. This information can often be formally disclosed using the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, or in some cases the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

If the property is being acquired for investment purposes, GreenLight® Searches will reveal impediments that are not obviously in the public domain that may have an adverse effect on value or suitability for use.

Although GreenLight® Searches does not include a property inspection, it is an excellent starting point and will provide a rounded and well-informed property report. The report also delivers a clear and cost-effective ‘next steps’ process.

Compiled, assessed and peer-reviewed by expert Chartered Environmental Surveyors, GreenLight® Searches provides a comprehensive range of features:

Relevant enquiries to regulatory authorities;
An environmental risk assessment;
Review of historic Ordnance Survey mapping;
Review of important environmental data, including flooding, mining and ground instability, radon, fuel station locations and radioactive substances;
Customised ‘EnviroMAP’ for the property;
Site-specific recommendation of the next steps needed with proposed costs;
Recommendation of other relevant services, such as asbestos surveys/management plans, fire risk assessments and energy performance certificates;
Useful contacts list;
Report supplied as a PDF file for easy and efficient storage;

It is fully compliant with RICS Practice Standards, notably ‘Contamination, the Environment and Sustainability – Implications for chartered surveyors and their clients’ published in April 2010, the Red Book, ‘Valuation Standards – Global and UK’ published in May 2011 and the Law Society’s Warning Card.
Importantly, the report can be customised to individual users needs through dedicated account management. Expert Chartered Environmental Surveyors are on standby, prepared to help where further assessment is recommended.

More information is available on the RICS Flooding Conference 2012 flyer.

Digging out a trial pit

Clients, in both the residential and commercial sectors, are increasingly turning to intrusive testing to determine whether the site which they either own or are about to acquire, is contaminated. Intrusive investigations with either soil and / or groundwater sampling is the only definitive method of determining whether a site is actually contaminated.

All contaminated land investigations undertaken by Wilbourn Associates, whether this is a Phase 1 Desktop Report or a Phase 2 Site Investigation, are carried out in line with industry standard guidelines. This includes CLR 11 and the more recent BS10175:2011 ‘Investigation of potentially contaminated sites – Code of Practice’. Although the BSI standard is not mandatory this standard relates to good practice; failure to adhere to such standards could leave any company undertaking such works, open to claims of negligence.

The Phase 2 report ordinarily follows a Phase 1 desktop study which identifies significant potential risks to human health or the water environment. This might be needed to comply with conditions of planning consent for new developments or where the risks identified could give rise to a claim for damages, prosecution or action by the Regulatory Authorities and/or third parties.

Various levels of intrusive investigations are available for you or your client. The level of investigation ranges from a simple ‘Garden Investigation Report’ to the more complex Phase 2 investigations that can require installation of cable percussive boreholes to great depth to allow for initial and ongoing monitoring.
The Garden Investigation report usually involves using no more than two hand dug trial holes to a depth of up to one metre from which soil samples are collected for chemical testing in order to identify any contaminants of concern. Wilbourn Associates offer an extremely quick and efficient service for garden investigations.

The more complex Phase 2 reports are often required for larger redevelopment sites where there are complex potential contamination issues associated with either historical and / or current uses of a property.

Wilbourn Associates only use UKAS accredited laboratories which have MCERTS accredited testing methods. We apply the same strict protocols whether the investigation is for more small residential gardens or more complex commercial sites.

Wilbourn Associates can also assist with geotechnical investigations (foundation design) or to confirm the presence of shallow mine workings.
For further information please do not hesitate to contact one of our consultants on 0114 2435500.

Related posts

• Allotment Investigations
• Garden Investigations
• Site Investigations

Wilbourn Associates is committed to continuous improvement and to providing quality products and services.  As part of this we operate a fully audited Quality Assurance system under ISO 9001:2008 for all company activities. This system helps us to ensure consistency in development and production and to continuously improve our product offer to our customers.

We are happy for all our clients and customers to visit us and review our audit systems.  We are also in the process of modifying our quality management system to include our new range of GreenLight products.

Soils

• CLEA Methodology;
  • SNIFFER Framework;
  • RBCA tool kit for chemical releases;
  • RISC-Human 3.1;
  • RISC;
  • Risk* Assistant (1.1)

Controlled Waters

• ConSim 2.5;
• RBCA tool kit for chemical releases;
  • RISC-Human 3.1;
  • RISC;
  • Risk* Assistant (1.1)

The outputs from the assessment will determine whether there are unacceptable risks and whether remedial measures are required for which the DQRA can calculate remedial clean-up target values.