Building Resilience in Communities (BRIC) is a two-year cross-channel project funded by Interreg until June 2023. The main aim of the eight project teams has been to build resilience in communities at risk of flooding.  
As a social innovation project, BRIC has been testing new tools and activities to interact with local people - from having meaningful conversations in the street using appreciative enquiry to installing new flood awareness technologies.  
The BRIC project is aligned with nine of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These goals are a call to action for all, addressing various social needs while combating climate change and protecting the environment. 

BRIC has created eight resilience networks and implementation programmes.  The project teams have used technological and social mechanisms to enable local people, businesses and organisations to work with flood management authorities to reduce the social and economic impacts of flooding. 

The BRIC project aims, through collaborative working, to help communities plan and know how to act quickly in the event of a flood, as well as how to recover well after a flood. Through training, awareness raising and community engagement, the project teams have encouraged the creation of new flood action groups and the development of local community resilience networks. 

The main outcomes of the BRIC project are :

The BRIC project is targeted at people who are vulnerable, elderly and out of the labour market since these populations rarely benefit from specific campaigns and are less involved in risk prevention and management in their daily lives. The BRIC project experimented with various tools and activities to reach this target audience and improve their resilience. 

The BRIC partnership brings together eight French and English partners. The collaboration provides expertise in different areas linked to flood risk management, climate change, new technologies and innovative methods of engagement.

The eight pilot sites, four in England and four in France, have been trying out different activities and tools. 

The city of Plymouth has a population of about 260,000 and the highest unemployment rate in the UK’s South West region.  The Plymouth BRIC team is working with two communities in the City: Lipson Vale / Trefusis Park and St Levan, which are similar in many respects.

They both:

• were historically tidal creeks, which were filled in and developed as Plymouth grew
• are heavily urbanised with steep-sided streets that drain to low-lying areas
• have a Victorian combined sewerage system, carrying both wastewater and surface water, which is subject to tidal locking and often works at full capacity
• frequently suffer from surface water flooding, which impacts the road network and creates flood risk to homes, businesses and schools

St Levan Park often becomes a lake, as seen in the picture below! Residents have also reported that raw sewage can be found in the park after heavy rainfall, which is dangerous and unpleasant.

Main actions on the pilot site

• Organising flood awareness events and activities to enable individuals and communities to build flood resilience to flooding
• Forming new flood action groups and encouraging local volunteers to become flood wardens, and providing training to support those individuals
• Providing a weather monitoring station in Lipson Vale to provide flood alerts to the flood action group and PCC’s highways and emergency response teams, plus a live data link to the local school to support learning about flood risk and climate change
• Creating a place story map with each community, detailing its flood and social history, plus stories of local heroes and resilience champions
• Working with risk management agencies on capital programmes to provide Sustainable Drainage Systems in the parks to ‘slow the flow’ of water and reduce the risk of surface water flooding

For more information, please visit https://plymouth.bric-network.com/

Canvey Island is located on the South East coast of Essex in the Thames estuary. The island was originally a salt marsh before being reclaimed by sea waters in the 7th century. It covers an area of 7.12 square miles (18.44 km2) and has a population of 40,000 (around 16,000 homes). In the first half of the 20th century, it was the fastest-growing sea resort in the UK but was devastated by floods in 1953. The area is mainly urbanised and includes some wards ranked among the most deprived areas in England in terms of academic achievement, income and health.

The BRIC project chose Canvey Island as one of its eight pilot areas because it is highly vulnerable to sea and surface water flooding. The island is protected from tidal surges by its sea wall. The Canvey Island southern shoreline revetment project, beginning in March 2023, will maintain the current high level of tidal flood risk protection. Canvey Island has suffered from extensive surface water flooding in recent years.

For more information, please visit https://canvey-island.bric-network.com/

Weymouth has a population of around 53,000 and is a traditional seaside resort heavily dependent on tourism and seasonal employment. The city has a long history of flooding: some of the worst flood events occurred in the 1950s and 1960s; the most recent flooding occurred in 2014 during repeated coastal storms. In Weymouth, there are four main areas of flood risk:

• tidal flooding via Weymouth Harbour
• river flooding via the Wey River
• surface water flooding due to precipitation (exacerbated by tidal blockages)
• wave overtopping of the seafront

Main actions on the pilot site

Weymouth has many existing and long-established support networks and a strong sense of community. The project team has worked alongside what is already in place to respond to the community’s wishes and needs by:

• engaging communities in flood risk and flood resilience using a joint approach, linking local communities, experts and policymakers
• raising awareness by working with community networks to develop flood champions trained in safety measures and incident reporting
• using new approaches, such as a public information totem, providing up-to-date community information on flooding
• working with partners to develop an interactive web platform to provide local data and information as well as tips, best practices and educational materials to support city-wide flood risk management

For more information, please visit https://weymouth.bric-network.com/

Kent has a population of approximately 1.6 million people. It has a highly varied landscape and a long coastline, which results in very diverse communities. Some coastal towns have high levels of deprivation, and many areas are experiencing increased flooding, which is expected to worsen due to rising sea levels and climate change. The coastal areas of Kent are at significant risk of flooding, as well as the floodplains of the Rivers Medway, Stour and Darent. There are approximately 64,000 properties estimated to be at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea. Also, 24,000 properties, especially in urban areas, are estimated to be at risk of flooding from surface runoff, one of the highest risks of any Lead Local Flood Authority in England. Ordinary watercourses are also a significant source of flood risk in Kent.

Main Outputs

• Establishing and building upon relationships with communities and RMAs
• Setting up and ensuring the sustainability of flood action groups in coastal areas
• Building a Community Resilience Network
• Using community-led maps to add to the existing local risk maps and flood action plans used by the community to improve decision making
• Contributing, sharing, and learning with the project partners to develop new and better approaches for community-led approaches to flood risk management

For more information, please visit https://kent.bric-network.com/

The Aulne Valley in Brittany is an incised valley with numerous twists and turns. The downstream section of the Aulne is canalised and forms the west part of the Nantes-to-Brest canal. The Aulne is a strong feature in the landscape and environment and gives the territory its identity. The valley’s communes are often flooded and were particularly severely affected in 1995 and 2000. The lower part of the valley has a flood risk prevention plan. The river basin also has a flood prevention action plan in place.

Cerema hopes the Interreg-BRIC project will bring a positive and united vision to the Aulne valley. This approach seems more effective than just sending out communications about flooding. It examines the presence of water, its uses, the relationship communities have with the river and their perception of water-associated risks. The overall aim of the project here is to organise an event that brings everyone together and raises awareness: an Aulne festival. This festival unites the territory’s stakeholders, who are suggesting different activities (exhibitions, art walks, entertainment, food, etc.). The event follows a series of preparatory activities carried out in 2021 and 2022.

For more information, please visit https://vallee-aulne.bric-network.com/

For more information, please visit https://vallee-oise.bric-network.com/

A strong symbol of local identity, the Authie is a coastal river that marks the border between the Pas-de-Calais and Somme territories. It runs parallel to the river Canche and the lower bed of the river Somme. The valley is about 100 km long but not very wide. The river’s source lies at an altitude of 100 m at Coigneux and it flows into the English Channel at the Baie d’Authie. In the upper valley, between the source and the commune of Outrebois, the bottom of the Authie is narrow, the riverbed is well-marked, and the gradients are relatively steep. The middle valley, which flows towards Dompierre sur Authie, widens at the bottom. Until Falaise Morte near CollineBeaumont, the lower valley crosses important marshland, where the plateaux are low. Upon approaching the Baie d’Authie, the gradients reduce and eventually disappear so that the low area is almost at sea level.

In the Authie valley, like everywhere else, floods are becoming more and more frequent and severe. With the flash floods in 2001 and the summer of 2016, which caused the death of a motorist, and more recently, the mudslides of 2021, the Authie valley is particularly vulnerable to floods due to the territory’s topography and geology. There are different types of floods: flooding caused by runoff, marine submersion, rising groundwater and overflowing rivers. The morphology of the Authie territory makes it more prone to flooding from runoff.

For more information, please visit https://vallee-authie.bric-network.com/

At 150 km long, the Risle’s source lies in the Orne territory and it flows into the Seine upstream of Honfleur. It is a wide valley measuring 2500 km2 with a flat bottom, mostly comprising bocage grasslands (mixed forests and pastures). Its environmental riches are recognised through numerous inventories and protected zones (Marais Vernier, for example). The town of Pont-Audemer, mid-way between Caen and Rouen, is nicknamed the “little Venice” of Normandy because of the town’s canals. The river is also linked to industry, such as the now-abandoned COSTIL tannery. The valley is frequently affected by floods, the worst of which were in 1995, 1999 and 2001. These are primarily slow winter floods linked to prolonged rainfall over the whole river basin, sometimes associated with high tides, which slow the water flow.

For more information, please visit https://vallee-risle.bric-network.com/

Originally used to refer to materials’ resistance to shocks, the term resilience has increasingly been applied to social sciences. An individual, a community or even a territory can be considered resilient. In other words, they have the capacity and resources to organise themselves to respond to shocks. Resilience requires anticipating disruptions, an ability to mitigate and absorb their impact and the capacity to recover after events.

In terms of natural risk management, developing the resistance of a population and territory consists partly of emphasising risk prevention and reduction. How a territory is governed plays a key role here. It must involve as many stakeholders as possible. A territory’s resilience in the face of environmental events such as flooding can only be collective, systemic and based on that territory.

Communities are social groups of people who share characteristics, such as their location, or other demographics, such as age, race, religion or orientation. Communities may go through shared experiences together, such as flood events. Communities may also participate in joint actions or activities and share common interests.

Populations are the total number of people who live in a location. The population may comprise several different communities and demographics facing various issues. Territories are the areas of land in which people live, governed by different governments or councils.

Therefore, territories may implement differing flood risk management policies and strategies.

The Collins English Dictionary defines “engagement” as: “The act of engaging. A promise, obligation or other condition that binds. An appointment or arrangement. A period of employment, especially a limited period.”

Regarding the BRIC project, this term applies to community engagement. In other words, the involvement of relevant populations in the fight against flooding. This social innovation approach aims to strengthen the capacity of engaged local members (through training and workshops) to help make the most vulnerable populations more resilient. The involved members can play several roles, including mediating between local people and the competent authorities, educating communities and monitoring activities on a local scale.

Flood action groups comprise dedicated individuals who usually flood themselves and who commit their time and energy to forwarding their community to a situation where the flood risk is reduced, and they are more aware and prepared. Flood action groups are a representative voice for their community and aim to work in partnership with risk management agencies and authorities. The formation of community-based flood action groups to work on behalf of the whole community to find ways to reduce flood risk has proved very effective in England and Wales.

Flood wardens are volunteers who act as the eyes and ears of the community. Flood wardens can undertake roles such as :

• assisting with the creation and maintenance of Community Flood Plans
• monitoring the condition of local drains, brooks and other watercourses and reporting any issues to the appropriate agency
• distributing flood-related information to the public, encouraging individuals to sign up for the government’s free flood warning service
• calling for assistance on behalf of people who are struggling to carry out essential actions to safeguard themselves or their property
• liaising with risk management authorities on local conditions and needs
• noting and reporting local flood event details 
• setting up local patrols to monitor the situation

The purpose of resilience networks is to enable communities and public authorities to work together to reduce the socioeconomic impact of floods on these communities, making them more self-sufficient and resilient in the face of risks. The aim is to ensure a long-lasting collaboration that guarantees that the actions undertaken are sustainable.