Expert launches group to help future-proof homes against flood risk

A Yorkshire businessman who devised a house with the ability to rise above flood water has used his expertise to form an association of companies which aims to become a leading authority in the field of flood technology.

Flood Technology Group brings together a range of products, services and solutions for local authorities, developers and home owners.

Andrew Parker, who lives near Selby, was first inspired to design the Hadley FloodSAFE House and FloodJack, the mechanical jack system on which it sits, back in 2012 after witnessing the devastation flooding caused to his friends and family.

Parker, whose background is in domestic construction, has spent the last decade honing his ideas and testing his products, working with experts at the University of Hull’s Flood Innovation Centre, the University of Liverpool and the HR Wallingford hydraulics research laboratory near Oxford.

He is now in a position to bring his Flood Adaptive Platform technology to market as part of the wider flood technology solution offered by Flood Technology Group.

The group is working with Phoenix Sustainable Investments, a developer of sustainable energy and innovation projects.

Andrew Parker

Parker said: “By working together, we’re using our collective knowledge and experience in the rapidly evolving flood technology field to develop and champion flood adaptive technology that will future-proof people’s homes against the increased flood risk posed by our changing climate.”

Karl Hick, chair of Phoenix Sustainable Investments, said: “Both Andrew and Phoenix have independently developed pioneering concepts in flood protection, including an elevating house.

“Together, we bring an unparalleled wealth of knowledge, capability and expertise to the table.

“With two decades of combined experience in this evolving market, Flood Technology Group is uniquely positioned to help protect communities against the increased risk of flooding that we face in our rapidly changing climate.”

Parker added: “To safeguard people and property, the flood protection market has traditionally focused on what are known as flood resilience measures, which speed up the recovery process and enable people to move back into their properties more quickly after flooding.

“While several innovative solutions have emerged, challenging climate forecasts have exposed the limitations of this approach.

“The ground-breaking Flood Adaptive Platform technology we’ve developed has already been applied to modular buildings, demonstrating its ability to protect people’s homes and their contents from the threat of flooding, but its potential is limitless.

“There’s huge scope for it to protect a vast range of infrastructure across many different sectors, from utilities and energy to commercial and transportation.”