The world’s first implementation of new flood modelling technology has taken place at the Wisbech Garden Town Project. On the 26th October, it was announced that the Royal HaskoningDHV’s TRICO approach has been chosen for a pilot scheme that will investigate the flood management the 10,000 home Garden Town that has been planned for the area of Wisbech.

This pilot flood management project has received the backing of the Dutch Government, who have awarded a €55,000 grant from the Partners for Water programme. This Partners for Water programme has been set up in order to offer support and funding for a number of innovative projects around the world.

TRICO, or the Toolset for Rapid Interactive Collaborative Optioneering was developed through a partnership with Nelen & Schuurmans, Deltares and TU Delft. The Toolset has been awarded the innovation award in 2016’s Defra flood management and modelling competition. TRICO uses the innovative and revolutionary hydraulic modelling tool 3Di as well as the interactive Map Table in order to offer the opportunity for full stakeholder collaboration when developing flood management options.

The new town planned as a part of Wisbech 2020 offers an exciting but challenging opportunity for the area. The new town’s agreed location on the floodplain means that there are a range of exceptional and innovative approaches needed in order to make sure that the development is kept safe, is sustainable and manages to gain planning consent. It is great news for the partnership that TRICO can be put to good use on a nationally significant project.

The contribution from the Dutch government from their partners for Water fund will be vital to making a difference to the pilot project. The scale of the flood management challenge that is faced by those who are involved in the design of Wisbech has been illustrated in the close attention that has been given to the pilot by people on a regional and national scale.