Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heav’n
Unto the place beneath
Having been through one of the hottest, driest Summers for some years, it seems only fitting that news stories relating to Flood Defence Week should have been hitting my inbox in the past couple of weeks. Ah, Autumn, season of mist, mellow fruitfulness and sticking one’s head upside down under a variety of hand driers in the loos of various offices, hospitality establishments, and even train carriages, to minimise the (not at all) fashionable drowned rat look.
Earlier this year, I could look out of my office window and wonder at the range of brown, frazzled hues that the meagre grass could turn; this week I’ve been idly wondering if I could use the kids’ old blow-up dinghy to navigate my way to the shops.
Last week was Flood Defence Week, and it coincided with the full publication of FloodReady – an action plan to build the resilience of people and properties. This is one of the outcomes of the Bonfield review, from the redoubtable Professor Peter Bonfield.
Flood Defence Week is one of those annual government campaigns, this time from the offices of the Environment Agency. It seeks to encourage people to prepare for flooding by understanding just how at risk of flooding they and their properties are, preparing for flood eventualities, and signing up to flood warnings.
Those of us who live on a hill, in a particularly hilly town, sometime forget, until it actually affects us, how devastating a flood can be. And how common. It’s crucial that people are aware of the risk. The climate is changing, Fact. The country is experiencing more frequent and severe flood events, also Fact. Rainfall was up to a third higher than usual in 2024 and, according to figures, last winter, the Environment Agency issued more than 3,000 flood alerts, 1,600 flood warnings, and three severe flood warnings. The Agency also reckons that more than six million homes and businesses could be at some sort of flood risk, whether that be from surface water, the sea or rivers. Businesses in some particularly flood-prone parts of the country are now more or less uninsurable.
Wherever it comes from, it’s wet and it causes havoc, huge cost and heartache. The news items of people being rescued and floating down the High Street in dinghies, clutching their pets and their bare essentials are all very well. But this stuff takes months and months to put right. It took over a year for my flooded kitchen to get sorted out, and that was only the dishwasher that sprung a leak.
Luckily, there are businesses out there that sell all sorts of things that can help to protect homes and businesses from the worst aspects of floods. They’re called builders merchants and building material suppliers.
The BMF is promoting the Action Plan contained in the Bonfield Review to merchants and civils & drainage specialists. There have been a number of events – in-branch promotions, breakfast mornings and the like – across the country run by merchants and suppliers, including Travis Perkins, Huws Gray, MP Moran, Bradfords and Fernco. FYI, I can attest to the efficacy of the Fernco flood bags.
The BMF, which was involved in the Review, and quoted in the press release issued by the Environment Agency, is upping its game, and hoofing round the country, taking MPs in to see merchants, and show them how vital a part in the flood protection fight the industry plays. If yours isn’t one of those businesses, then contact your MP anyway. Talk to them, get them on the industry’s side.
Climate change is here and happening. We have a responsibility to do everything possible to mitigate against its worst effects.
