Tropical Season

These past few weeks have been challenging for much of the North Island as unprecedented weather systems have arrived from the Tropics.

In particular, huge amounts of rainfall has accumulated over the North Island resulting in devastating flooding for our major cities. City wide Infrastructure has been overloaded and in some cases been shown to not be able to accommodate such rain events.

How does this affect development moving forward? It is even more important now that we consider these major storm events, taking into consideration climate change, when planning for development. For example, the Finished Floor Level of a new house which is located in a flood prone area, must achieve a 500mm freeboard for a 1 in 100-year storm event for a permitted activity under the planning regulations. Along with providing adequate stormwater reticulation to allow enough capacity when the downpour of rain is more than usual, gives the development the best possible chance of being unaffected by natural weather events. 

How can we help? Birch Land Development Consultants have vast experiencing when planning developments to account for such weather events. Whether it’s making sure the correct flood level is calculated or providing adequate infrastructure or upgrades to the network, we have you have covered.