A flagship flood risk management scheme for Derby has been awarded to GBV, a joint venture of Galliford Try and Black & Veatch. Partnership funding is being used to combine flood management with urban regeneration. By creating three kilometres of flood defences GBV’s work will rejuvenate areas of Derby city centre currently under utilised because of insufficient flood protection. “The scheme is about more than safeguarding people and property from flooding. It is also about re-establishing a positive relationship between Derby and its river by helping realise the economic potential of brownfield sites currently at risk of flooding,” according to Matthew Nott, a director for GBV. Derby City Council awarded the £11.7M design-and-build package to GBV under the Environment Agency’s Water & Environmental Management (WEM) Framework. The package is part of the Our City Our River scheme, which has a total value of £90M and will protect more than 1450 homes and nearly 800 businesses, as well as key infrastructure.

Economic losses from global flooding are expected to rise by at least 430% by 2080, and possibly as much as 2,000% unless resilence work takes place, scientists have warned. The number of global fatalities could rise by as much as 200% in the same time, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But adaptation investment could cut economic costs of flooding by 96% and fatalities by 69%.