Coastal properties/infrastructure face severe and escalating threats from climate change, whether they are industrial sites, transportation networks, ports and residential houses. Consequently, adaptive and resilient strategies are urgently demanded. In response, a transformative near-to-market 'FloodsSafe House' system has been developed to meet government specifications, comprising hydraulic jacks at ground level that uplift a modular house to a height of up to 1.5 meters when subjected to floods.
The system has been developed to mitigate the risks and costs due to rising sea levels, and increased flooding caused by more extreme weather events. This novel system has evolved from FloodJack international and University of Liverpool (UoL) collaborations. This success is now being extended to the maritime sector, where additional hazards are present that could compromise the integrity of the steel frame structural support system, e.g corrosion risks from exposure to sea water and the effects due to strong winds in unsheltered coastal terrain.
The project also aims at optimising the performance of the building system, by embedding sensors linked to an early warning system (EWS), aligning with requirements set by the Environment Agency and Port Authorities.
The researcher will employ the innovative design-by-testing based approach in the Structural and Fluid Laboratories (SFLs) at UoL to enhance the current version of the modular structural system with EWS. A prototype full-scale modular system with nature-based panels and low-cost sensors will be tested at a maritime/coastal site in the Liverpool City Region (LCR), through engagement with PSW Integrity and WSP.