My sustainable home

Climate change is happening now, and we need to take actions that reduce the impacts of climate change (mitigation) and help us to live with its effects (adaptation). The impacts from climate change that are most likely to be felt locally are in relation to more extreme weather, such as heavy rainfall and heatwaves.

Flooding

Heavy rainfall can cause flooding, which in turn can lead to property damage.

There are a number of steps you can take inside your own home to protect against the negative impacts from flooding. These include:

• Fitting air brick covers
• Fitting non-return valves on drains and pipes
• Protecting important documents (such as passports and certificates) in sealable bags
• High shelves for storing valuable items

There are also some higher-cost solutions for outside the property, which include:

• Landscaping to divert flood waters
• Replacing impermeable surfaces (such as concrete) with permeable surfaces (such as gravel) – see guidance on permeable surfacing (GOV.UK)
• Sealing exterior walls
• Fitting water-resistant air bricks

More detail can be found on these and other measures on the Homeowner’s Alliance webpages and the Surrey Wildlife Trust also has some advice on how to reduce flood risk around your home.

If your property has been damaged by flooding, Build Back Better provides funding of up to £10,000 to install property flood resilience measures when repairing the damage.

• Check the long-term flood risk in an area in England (GOV.UK) 
• Check for current flooding on the GOV.UK and the Met Office.
• Further information about preparing for flooding (Surrey County Council)

Heatwaves

The risk of drought increases during heatwaves. The Gardeners' World website provides advice for dealing with drought in the garden, while the Countryside Code has a section on fire safety in outdoor areas. The Surrey Wildlife Trust also has some advice on how to reduce heat risk around your home.

Building design

As well as the guidance above on how to reduce flood and heat risk to your property, there is also a wealth of information in our Sustainable Construction and Climate Change planning guidance on subjects including:

• Site permeability
• Solar gain and overheating
• Cooling/shading – trees and green walls/roofs
• Adaptation to climate changes

If you’re planning any building projects for your property, it makes sense to incorporate measures that will mitigate the causes of climate change as well as incorporating resilience to the impacts.