Flood risk – use of flood maps only in FRA - KBCN1524
Answer option E (Commercial) or F (Residential)
If a flood risk assessment considers flooding from rivers and seas only, flood risk is zero / low, and the following requirements are met:
- There are local or national flood maps available covering these sources of flooding.
- The maps are accurate, up to date, and have sufficient detail to clearly identify flood risk for the asset.
- The maps are approved by local or national government, and based on robust data.
It is acceptable for the flood risk assessment to be carried out by a relevant member of the team. It does not require a competent individual (see manual definition) to do this.
Most sources of flooding are site-specific and require specialist input and calculation to quantify. However, flood maps meeting the criteria above can provide an acceptable level of assurance of overall flood risk from rivers or seas without the need to engage a specialist.
Answer option B (Commercial) or C (Residential)
Where the risk of flooding is medium or high, flood mitigation measures are required (criterion 3).
These mitigation measures must be defined by either:
- A local authority (the measures must be relevant to the asset).
- Or a competent individual.
The FRA can still be produced by a relevant member of the team.
Relevant member of the team
A ‘relevant member of the team’ would typically refer to an individual directly involved with the management and operation of the asset, such as the building owner, client, tenant (if they have management responsibility), or the facilities/building manager. The aim is to ensure the flood risk assessment is carried out by an appropriate party to inform the owner/management about the flood risk to the property, whilst upholding the independence of the BREEAM Assessor for verification.
The relevant person cannot, therefore, be the BREEAM assessor, as they must be impartial and cannot produce evidence which they then verify for compliance. If another person in the assessor organisation were to undertake this role, it would need to be demonstrated how potential conflicts of interest would be managed - see
KBCN1708
Exemplary credit
This option is only available if a site-specific FRA was carried out by a competent individual, and cannot be based only on flood maps that give an allowance for climate change.
Example scenarios
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[accordion_block title="Low / zero flood risk"]
National flood maps cover flooding from rivers and seas. The flood risk from these sources is zero / low.
The compliant FRA can be produced by a relevant member of the team.
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[accordion_block title="Medium / high flood risk"]
National flood maps cover flooding from rivers and seas. The flood risk from these sources is medium / high. Flood mitigation measures are required.
The local authority provides some general flood mitigation measures for the area, but these are not relevant to the assessed asset.
Instead, a competent individual is consulted on relevant flood mitigation measures for the asset - their recommendations are recorded in the FRA.
The compliant FRA can be produced by a relevant member of the team.
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19 Jun 2025 - 'Relevant member of the team' - Definition added
06-Nov-2024 - Answer C guidance title now corrected to point to Answer B for Commercial manuals.
Information correct as of 28