With around 7,760 miles of coastline and thousands of miles of inland waterways, the UK faces an ever increasing risk of flooding especially with the effects of global warming. England and Wales has over 24,000 miles in total of flood defences currently in place and the environment agency estimates it will be spending £270 million creating additional defences.

One of the most common materials for creating flood defences is concrete, which is better than steel and other products as it is weatherproof and won’t rust. Reinforced concrete blocks and precast concrete retaining walls are an excellent solution for constructing breakwaters and flood defence walls.

The government is also keen to preserve the aesthetics of our coastal land and is trying find and expand more environmentally friendly and natural flood defence systems. The main example of this is by utilising salt-marshes and mudflats which allows seawater to flood these flatland areas without effecting populated areas.

There are many types of structures and physical barriers that can be used for flood defence which include; river embankments, concrete retaining walls, sluice gates, breakwaters and weirs. One of the most famous and iconic flood defence units is the Thames Barrier in London, which is an adjustable flood barrier that can be quickly altered to protect London in case of a flood.