The past summer left no doubt: not only heat and drought, but also heavy rainfall will increasingly befall us in the coming years. Our densely built-up territory has very little capacity to withstand such extreme weather conditions, with all the consequences that entails. During the info session ‘Climate-proof design against drought and floods’, NAV, Vlario, Sumaqua and the Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij will therefore explain the strategies and tools with which architects can design and build more climate-proof. The seminar consists of three parts.
1. Design guidelines for infiltration, buffering and reuse
Riet Liesmont of Vlario provides a refresher on the design guidelines for infiltration, buffering and reuse. She emphasises the importance of soil conditions, permeability and groundwater level and elaborates on, among other things, implantation and dimensioning of the various facilities.
2. The Green Blue Level
The Green Blue Level, an initiative of Vlario and VCB, is a new tool to determine how well a project scores in terms of rainwater treatment. To this end, a water score and a green score are given, similar to the now familiar principle of the E-level. Vincent Wolfs of Sumaqua discusses which projects are eligible and how the scores are awarded, and illustrates with a practical example.
3. Future flood maps
The Flemish Government has drawn up new flood maps for the water assessment of projects. They should soon replace the current map sets. Bram Vogels (VMM) explains why these new maps were needed, how they differ from the existing versions and what their impact is in practice.