Heavy rain

Tag: Business

Can ‘Flood Re’ increase the resilience of small businesses? Investigating flood insurance and other strategies to move forward

University of Leeds

April 2016

Financial protection against flood risk has been recognised a way to protect assets and livelihoods. However, concerns exist about the affordability of cover in high risk areas. Flood Re, a scheme were premiums are subsidised, were created to help households, but excludes micro-businesses, small businesses, charities and co-operatives in high-risk flood areas. The objective of this project is to improve our understanding of flood insurance for SMEs, and to establish if SMEs have flood insurance problems, and if so, how they could be overcome and which other risk management strategies could be available for SMEs. By doing so, the project will contribute to the development of a flood protection policy framework that increase the resilience of this backbone of the economy.

Research Council: ESRC

Active | After | Tagged: ,

Community resilience to extreme weather

Cranfield University

February 2008 – November 2011

Flooding is recognised as a critical business threat, though seldom sufficiently prioritised for developing a coping strategy. It was perceived as an unavoidable risk that required community level engagement (structural protection, better drainage system, proper drainage maintenance). Nearly half of SMEs examined had neither considered the risks nor implemented coping strategies, those that had usually extended generic business risk strategies to deal with immediate impacts of EWEs. Supply chain impact potential was often unrecognised. As part of this project, the ‘What-If’ Scenario Portal (WISP) was developed as a series of interlinked toolkits used for mapping the projections of future weather-related hazards developed.

Research Council: EPSRC

Completed | Before | Tagged: , ,

Community resilience to extreme weather events through improved local decision-making

University of Greenwich

March 2008 – November 2011

SMEs must be prepared for the disruption that an extreme weather event (EWE) can bring and have contingency plans in place to help their immediate recovery to secure their long term survival. This project aimed to understand how each group of decision-makers is affected by and responds to EWEs, and to identify the synergies and conflicts between their decisions that affect community resilience. The aim of the research is to develop an integrated decision-making framework that supports the individual and collective actions of local policymakers, households and SMEs, in such a way that the actions result in the improved resilience of local communities to EWEs.

Research Council: EPSRC

Completed | Before | Tagged: , ,

Digital tool for SME flood adaptation

University of the West of England

December 2012 – June 2016

A digital e-learning tool that encourages flood risk adaptation amongst SMEs. This interactive Web-2 app allows users to communicate with other businesses, share their views and experiences, access key resources and learn from a range of people who have flood experience or expertise. Business people shared their learning about how to run a business in a flood risk area, and on different aspects of their adaptive strategies. The storytelling process was found to encourage critical reflections on business adaptation, decision making and experiential learning that could be usefully shared with other small businesses.

Research Council: EPSRC

Completed | After, Before | Tagged: , ,

Economic impact of flooding on SMEs

University of Leeds

April 2016

Understanding the situation of SMEs is important as they represent key drivers in achieving the growth and development needed for economic recovery. When SMEs experience direct damage, there is a knock-on effect on the local and regional economy, for example, damage such as access to public infrastructure, damage to their overall financial situation, stock and building maintenance. The most vulnerable sectors are retail and manufacturing firms.

Completed | Before | Tagged: ,

Increasing Civil Society’s capacity to deal with changing extreme weather risk: negotiating dichotomies in theory and practice

University of the West of England

January 2017 – December 2019

UK government approaches to the management of increasing extreme weather risk have shifted since the mid-1990s from a top-down centrally imposed model to devolved responsibility where Civil Society (CS) is a key player. This seminar series aims to critically examine the changing role of CS in Extreme Weather Adaptation (preparation, recovery, prevention, mitigation, evaluation). Businesses, particularly SMEs, will have the opportunity to reflect on how they can embed within community networks and have a mutually supportive role in community resilience planning within the EWAC.

Research Council: ESRC

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Investigating SME resilience to flooding – the Braunton report

University of Huddersfield

2015

SMEs often become ‘experts through experience’; this study focused on the effects of flooding on a single village street, case studies including the negative impacts like loss of customers, damage to stock and electrical equipment. Many resilience measures can be taken to be better prepared for future floods, such as moving critical storage items upstairs, raising levels of electrical sockets, and having plans to evacuate stock and vulnerable equipment

Research Council: EPSRC

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Safe & SuRe: towards a new paradigm for urban water management

University of Exeter

March 2013 – August 2018

Property level surface water management:

  • What measures can you apply to your own property? James Webber
  • Achieving resilience to extreme events through effective emergency planning – Sarah Bunney

Research Council: EPSRC

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SME Guidance – organisational operational response and strategic decision making for long term flood preparedness in urban areas

University of Sheffield

December 2012 – June 2016

In conjunction with SMEs, this business guidance was developed to help prepare for and respond to the impacts of flooding in a handy checklist format. This guidance recommends ‘business continuity buddies’ for SMEs to prepare for the next flood; not if, but when!

Research Council: EPSRC

Completed | After, Before | Tagged: , ,

Suburban Neighbourhood Adaptation for a Changing Climate (SNACC)

Oxford Brookes University

September 2009 – December 2012

Adaptation to changes in the climate are important to suburban neighbourhoods, where 84% of the British population choose to live. Specific building-level adaptation opportunities relating to flooding include: green roofs, SUDs, rainwater capture, storage and use; increases in gutter, downpipe and drainage size; moving all electrical outlets, metering, boiler and electrical equipment above flood level; replacing carpet and wood floods with permeable surfaces; raising entry thresholds; adding overhangs and shading elements that can block driving rain; local knowledge of individuals; re-organising dwelling contents so nothing important is on the lower level.

Research Council: EPSRC

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