The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Guideline heavy rain - Property protection and structural precautions

Project briefing

In the past few years there have been an increasing number of unusually heavy rainfall events in Germany, which have resulted in major damage to building infrastructure. Adjustment measures should, therefore, also be taken at the property and building level in order to minimise the consequences of such events. Existing recommendations for action for flooding can only be transferred to the demands of extreme rainfall to a limited extent. Therefore, a guideline for property protection and structural precautions needs to be created.

Project duration: February 2018 - November 2018

Background

Nationwide, there has been devastating damage in places in the past to structural infrastructure caused by heavy rain. This is due to, among other things, missing or inadequate protection of buildings and the use of water-sensitive components and materials. A large part of the research requirements therefore, consisted of determining the individual vulnerabilities of the structural infrastructure to heavy rainfall and taking effective measures to minimise them. To identify measures appropriate to the property, these were assessed objectively. To do so, aid should be provided in the form of checklists.

Objective

The aims of this project were, therefore:

  • Outlining the effects and vulnerabilities of heavy rainfall on the structural infrastructure
  • Identifying and assembling various ways to reduce vulnerability
  • Presentation of methods for hazard and risk analysis
  • Formulation of planning recommendations


Contractor of the research project was the Ingenieurbüro Reinhard Beck GmbH & Co.KG, Wuppertal.

Contact us

  • Dr. Bernhard Fischer
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division WB 6 "Instrumente des ressourcenschonenden und klimaangepassten Bauens"
    Phone: +49 228 99401-1522
    Email: bernhard.fischer@bbr.bund.de

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