ROYAL HASKONING NEWSLETTER > INTERNATIONAL VERSION > FEBRUARY 2008

Risks and opportunities for the rising Thames

The risk that the centre of London will be flooded by the River Thames through a combination of rainwater and storm surges is currently estimated at once in a thousand years. In some areas on the sea side of the Thames Flood Barrier at Greenwich this risk is already greater than 1:200. One thing is certain: there will be serious flooding if no measures are taken. Within the next ten years the Thames Flood Barrier will no longer be sufficient.

There have been occasions in the past when water flooded Westminster Abbey and surrounded the base of the tower of Big Ben. If the barriers were to give way now, around 1.25 million people would be in danger and the economic damage to infrastructure (roads and the Underground) and historic buildings would be incalculable.

The British are confronting this alarming situation in the Thames Estuary 2100 project (TE2100 project). Experts from the UK Environment Agency – the British equivalent of the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat – are trying to look ahead at the strategic options up to the year 2100. Looking so far ahead and considering such a huge investment in a flood control project is unique in the United Kingdom. The options that are being investigated include reinforcing the existing barriers, replacing dikes at the mouth of the river, strengthening the Flood Barrier, building a new Oosterschelde-like flood barrier off Sheerness or a combination of some or all of these.

Opportunities
Marnix de Vriend, Senior Advisor in the Coastal & Rivers Division of Royal Haskoning, has been asked to work on this project. For more than a year he has been advising the project management in all kinds of ways. His most important task is providing insight into the possible choices based on knowledge of the complex water system and the often complicated technical studies. He has designed an ingenious system of detailed maps which show these dangers and opportunities in different coloured pictograms. He calls it ‘opportunity mapping’. ‘Besides defence where it’s essential, there are opportunities for London’s future if people can manage to accommodate the river in places where this can still be done. I believe that.’

Contactpersoon: Marnix de Vriend
+31 (0)24 3284 176
m.devriend@royalhaskoning.com

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