6 O'Clock Sessions: Flood Defence

How do we design climate resilient cities?

By 2050 more than 8 million homes in England will be at risk of flooding due to climate change. Meaning that within 25 years, 1 in 4 homes will be at risk.

The waterways that once made our city thrive are now threatening to flood our homes and buildings – how can good design defend Bristol from these rising waters?

Climate change isn’t only bringing hotter summers to the UK, our built environment also needs to adapt to wetter, more extreme weather. How can our buildings keep up?

Globally, we have already witnessed the devastating impact of climate breakdown through the deadly Valencia floods last year. As well as some forward-thinking solutions like China’s Sponge Cities.

Will better landscaping and planting save us, or do we need to think bigger? How do we design for flooding and what will it cost us?

We’re bringing together Architects, Scientists, Local Government and the Public to find ways to keep Bristol afloat during climate emergency.

If you’re passionate about climate change and its impact on our city, bring your ideas and join the conversation.

6 O’Clock Sessions:

Imagine a place where public, politicians and professionals come together to debate the future of our cities. The 6 O’Clock Sessions are home to informed civic debate – topical discussion with a twist. These sessions are participatory in nature – different opinions are welcome, heard and respectfully challenged. Just the tonic for our polarised times. Everyone welcome.

Speakers

Rob Delius, Stride Treglown – Rob is an architect, Associate Director and Head of Sustainability for Stride Treglown and is based in the company’s Bath studio. The main focus of his work is coordinating the practice’s sustainability strategy and its shift to a regenerative approach. He is passionate about good design, creating great places and exploring how the practice can have positive impact on people and planet.

Sarah Jones-Morris FLI FIPM, Landsmith Associates – Sarah is a landscape architect and Director of Landsmith Associates, specialising in climate-resilient, water-sensitive, and nature-led design, with over 25 years’ experience across rural and urban contexts. Her work spans strategy through to construction and corporate sustainability, with recent projects including Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Honeygar Farm, the Redcliffe & Temple BID Green Infrastructure Plan and the University of Bristol Living Estates Strategy.

Jess Evans, TetraTech – Jess is a Chartered Water and Environmental Manager with over 10 years experience working as a flood risk and drainage engineer within consultancies across the UK. She is currently an associate at Tetra Tech based in Bristol. Her most recent experience has been working alongside water companies to tackle their overflow spills, focusing on blue-green solutions such as implementing nature based solutions and sustainable drainage systems

Naomi Chatfield-Smith, Bristol City Council – Naomi is a Blue Green Infrastructure Strategy officer at Bristol City Council. She has a background in flood resilience and nature based solutions, and has recently been drafting a Blue Green Infrastructure Strategy with four themes: Nature Recovery, Urban Greening, Treescape and Waterscape. Naomi passionate about trees and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), and believes collaboration is key for overcoming some of the institutional, financial and technical barriers to maximising nature for climate adaptation.

Chris Bean, University of Bristol – Chris is currently a PhD researcher at the university of Bristol. Prior to this, he has held a number of positions across NGOs, consultancies and research institutes. His current work investigates global flood risk across all the world’s cities. Split between different schools, his intersectional work aims not only to identify where flooding will occur, but what are the wider societal impacts when it does.

Location: The Architect | Wed 11 February | 6 pm

Ticket includes 1 x Gin + Tonic (or Alcohol-Free alternative)