Lunchtime Seminar- Flood Risk

Flood Consult International (FCI) was setup to offer clients from commercial, industrial, insurance and utility sectors a better understanding of their flood risk and how to defend against it. The core staff at FCI have over 25 years’ experience of working in the flood defence industry during which time they have offered consultancy and designed solutions for a variety of assets from a minor extension on a warehouse to a nuclear power station.

They work predominantly in the utility sector protecting sites of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). These include nuclear infrastructure, grid and primary electricity substations, clean and waste water treatment works, gas pressure reduction stations and telecommunication hub/exchange sites.

Outside of the utility sector they have aligned themselves with numerous insurance companies reviewing flood exposure of their portfolio clients with a view to providing recommendations to increase the flood resilience/resistance of an asset. Portfolio clients include pub/restaurant chains, hotels and retail outlets.

During their extensive time within the flood defence industry, as well as the diversity of projects in which they have assisted, FCI has built up a substantial knowledge of competent flood defence products and companies. This enables them to confidently recommend products and companies who can undertake any flood resilience/resistance measures deemed necessary. They have also been involved in onsite testing of installed flood products as well as factory testing through FM Approvals and BSI.

The learning objectives from the presentation are as follows:

• Flood Mechanisms – Understand the different types of flooding including how they occur, characteristics and advanced warnings.
• Flood Modelling – Understand the difference between wide scale generic flood modelling and location specific detailed flood modelling including the advantages, disadvantages and limitations.
• Site Specific Risk Assessment – Understand how the survey and assessment process is undertaken and why a site survey is mandatory to fully quantify the risk.
• Flood Resistance and Resilience measures – Understand the difference between flood resistance and flood resilience measures and the different techniques to achieve protection against flooding.

Time: Registration & buffet lunch 12.30; Lecture 13:00; Finish 14:00.

The speakers biography's are as follows:

Martin McDermid

Martin is the business development manager at Flood Consult International (FCI) and has worked in the flood defence industry for over 12 years across two companies. During this time Martin has built strong relationships with utility, industrial/commercial and insurance companies across the UK with regard to identifying their flood risk exposure and correct means of preventing or reducing damage in the event of flooding. Martin has worked predominantly within the critical infrastructure sector in the UK helping clients correctly protect their assets, including electricity substations, water treatment works, gas pressure reduction stations, telecommunication hubs and nuclear power stations working for every Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in the process. Martin also has prevalent knowledge of flood defence products, in particular property level solutions, with experience of product testing in both factory and on-site scenarios in accordance with the BSI Kitemark and FM Approvals standards.

Nicholas West

Nicholas is a director of Flood Consult International (FCI). During his time in the industry Nicholas’s primary role has been completing flood risk/consequence assessments for a spectrum of clients and assets ranging from a small extension to a residential property to 400kV electricity substations. At FCI Nicholas has aligned himself alongside numerous insurance, utility and property management companies providing them a consultancy service identifying flood risk at a site specific level for their existing portfolio as well as new business prospects or new build properties. Working on these projects has enabled Nic to build astute knowledge of the current legislation and planning documentation associated with flood risk namely National Planning and Policy Framework 15 (NPPF 15) in England, Technical Advice Note 15 (TAN 15) in Wales, Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) in Scotland and Engineering Technical Report 138 (ETR 138) which concerns the electricity network in the UK. The quality and efficiency of work completed by Nic for FCI has been praised by numerous multinational insurance companies as well as utility clients to the point where FCI has been named as preferred supplier for flood risk requirements.

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