London Councils’ Transport and
Environment Committee
Drain London – Implementation
Update
Report by:
Michael Ojo
Date:
18 March 2010
Contact Officer:
Michael Ojo
Telephone:
020 7934 9945
Summary
Job title:
Email:
Item no: 15
Head of Environment
[email protected]
Members received a report on Drain London in July 2009 updating the
Committee on the consortium’s work ahead of the formal award of
funding from Defra to deliver a strategic London-wide approach to
surface water flood risk management. In November 2009, Defra signed
off funding of £3.2 million to the GLA on behalf of the consortium.
Following the establishment of the necessary governance arrangements,
Procurement for Tier 1 of the project has now nearly concluded and the
contract is in the process of being awarded. This report updates
members on progress so far.
Recommendations Members are recommended to:


Note progress so far made on programme delivery;
Agree to receive further reports as the programme develops.
Background
1. The severe flooding that the UK has experienced in recent years, together with the
challenges of climate change, population growth and increasing urbanisation, has prompted
a wide-ranging debate about the future management of flood risk and urban drainage. There
is consensus on the need for more holistic approaches to surface water management, that
require closer coordination between drainage stakeholders, including the sharing of data on
drainage assets and flood risks, to support more effective planning of land use, flood
defence, drainage infrastructure, and emergency responses.
2. London has been identified as an area at high risk of flooding, both in terms of likelihood and
the scale of the consequential damage. In common with many large conurbations, London
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Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 1
presents many challenges to managing the risk, owing to its size, population and the
complexity of its landscape, infrastructure and institutional structures.
3. In addition to the Thames, London has 13 main rivers, most of which span, or form borough
boundaries. For example, the Thames flows through 16 London boroughs, the River Lee
flows through six Boroughs and the River Brent through four.
4. The Drain London Forum was established to bring together representatives from
organisations with the information and / or responsibility for managing surface water drainage
in London. The Forum has developed into a committed and effective partnership, which has
delivered a study into the data holdings of all its members and recommended strategies for
sharing the data among them. The membership includes representation from DEFRA,
Environment Agency, Government Office for London, Greater London Authority, London
Boroughs, London Councils, London Development Agency, Thames Water and Transport for
London, as well as London Borough representation via thematic groups such as the
Association of London Environmental Health Managers (ALEHM), and the London Technical
Advisors’ Group (LoTAG).
Governance arrangements
5. Drain London will be managed at three levels. The Programme Management Structure Chart
below sets out the layers of governance. Further detail on the governance arrangement is
provided in appendix 1.
GLA
Mayors Office
Environment Programme Board
Legal and Finance teams
Drain London
Programme Board
Drain London
Forum
Programme Manager
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Programme overview
6. The aim of the Drain London project is to manage and reduce surface water flood risk in
London. The key objectives to achieving this aim are to:
 Use a risk-based approach to identify and prioritise surface water flood risk and flood risk
management in London.
 Create partnerships of key stakeholders to ‘own’ both the flood risk and the delivery and
maintenance of the risk management measures.
 Build the capacity within London to manage flood risk – across different physical scales
(regional, local, neighbourhood, community and individual), sectors (public, private,
voluntary, community) and disciplines (spatial planning, emergency planning,
development control, public realm management, engineering, highways management,
public health, communications and community engagement).
 Maximise the potential for multifunctional solutions that provide multiple benefits (e.g.
offsetting the urban heat island effect, improving the quality of life for local residents,
place-making etc).
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Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 2


Take account of the changing nature of the risks, due to climate change, population and
demographic change, public awareness and acceptance.
To deliver change on the ground, not reports and models.
7. The Drain London Scoping Study (reported to members previously) recommended
undertaking a ‘hierarchical approach’ to assessing surface water flood risk and prioritising
actions. The hierarchical approach is underpinned by the following concepts :
 Using a level of detail appropriate to the scale of analysis
 Focussing the greatest effort on the highest risk
 Using the Source-Pathway-Receptor approach to understanding and managing risk
 Taking a risk-based approach – using probability, exposure and vulnerability to define
and prioritise risk.
8. Applying the hierarchical approach, the Drain London project is divided into 3 phases, or
‘Tiers’ of work. Tier 1 supports and enables the successive Tiers and needs to be
understood within the context of the whole project.
9. The detailed output specification for the work required at Tier 1 is attached as appendix 2. In
summary, Tier 1 has 7 elements :
 To subdivide London into a number of manageable ‘Areas’, based on shared flood risk
and existing working relationships
 To collate the strategic scale information required for use at all Tiers of work
 To create an online portal for sharing information across and between Tiers of work
 To create a framework to ensure that data and modelling collated for, used in, and
developed by the project are compatible, updateable, of a quality appropriate to the scale
of analysis, and not restricted for use by the Drain London Forum and their consultants
 To create a framework to encourage and enable efficient and collaborative working by
stakeholders and consultants, across and between Tiers
 To develop a prioritisation matrix for prioritising interventions at the Area and local levels
 To provide project management for the duration of the project
10. In Tier 2, a more detailed level of analysis will be undertaken on the Areas identified in Tier 1.
Initially a flood risk assessment will be undertaken for each Area to identify :
 Known flood risk hotspots, based upon historic flood incidents (including Thames Water’s
DG5 records)
 High vulnerability areas, based upon regionally and locally important assets
 New areas of potential flood risk, using Area-level strategic modelling
11. The hotspots in each Area will be prioritised and ranked, and the high priority hotspots will be
re-assessed to define the ‘Critical Drainage Areas’ (CDAs) that generate the hotspot (in
effect the ‘catchment’ for the hotspot). Consultants will then develop Area-level spatial
planning and emergency planning recommendations for the flood hotspots and the CDAs.
12. The purpose of this Tier of work is to :
 Consolidate the Area Partnerships to work with the appointed consultants and to own the
outputs of the Drain London project
 Identify, define and prioritise flood hotspots and CDAs in each of the Areas
 Develop a strategic-scale SWMP for each Area including spatial and emergency planning
recommendations.
13. It is proposed that the Area-level Surface Water Management Plans (SWMPs) will be
staggered into three phases, to ensure that successive Areas benefit from previous work and
also to manage Borough and consultants capacity to engage and deliver. Therefore,
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Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 3
assuming 13 Areas are identified, the first five Area-level assessments will be undertaken
once the Tier 1 assessment is completed and then a second phase of four Area-level
assessments commencing 3 months later and the third phase of four Areas, three months
after that. In this way the consultants can work continuously on data collation, rather than all
of the Area-wide assessments having to wait for data to be collated from all Areas, and the
Forum can commence with the Boroughs who are able to start immediately and in parallel
build the capacity of those who are not so advanced in the successive phases.
14. For Tier 3, the Critical Drainage Areas identified in Tier 2 will be prioritised and ranked using
the prioritisation matrix developed in Tier 1 by the Programme Board, and consultants will be
appointed to develop a number of detailed, costed, local-level SWMPs for the high priority
CDAs.
15. The information gathered at Tier 2 will also be used to identify areas where Drain London
funding can be used to subsidise the cost of source control measures, such as green roofs,
or facilitate the development of community-level flood plans.
Programme Procurement
16. The appointment of consultants to undertake the first phase of work (Tier 1) took longer than
expected due to delays in receiving the approval to spend from Defra and the need to comply
with the GLA Procurement Code. The Christmas break further extended the delay meaning
that the invitation to tender for the Tier 1 work was only issued in the New Year.
17. The invitation to tender (ITT) went out to 13 consultancies in the first week of January with a
deadline for responses of 22nd January. The steering group/programme board met to
assess 5 tenders at the end of January. However, there have been some further delays due
to GLA officers working on the Mayor’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy which was
released in the middle of February. The Programme Board has engaged in some
clarification discussions with the preferred bidders and is now in the process of awarding the
contract for Tier 1.
18. All of the above has meant some knock-on delays to the commencement of Tier 2 which will
overlap Tier 1 to an extent. Lessons have been learnt from the Tier 1 procurement and work
has now commenced on specifying and letting Tier 2. It is hoped that the Programme Board
will be in a position to finalise the Tier 2 procurement by the end of March. The procurement
will be done through a similar Framework to the one used for Tier 1. Tier 1 procurement also
includes the procurement of the project management resource which will ensure we can
properly focus on moving the programme forward more quickly.
19. Some authorities had already started working on their individual SWMPs. Drain London has
advised these authorities to slow the pace of these individual projects so that we can all align
the work together to get economies of scale and take a strategic approach across the
region. The design of the programme will take account of where authorities are in phasing
the work in Tier 2 although there will be wider considerations. Drain London will not be able
to carry our detailed SWMPs for local areas so authorities wishing to fund detailed studies of
particular areas are encouraged to progress these as they will not be duplicating work that
will be carried out by Drain London.
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Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 4
Stakeholder engagement
20. Drain London produced its first Newsletter at the end of February 2010 providing background
information about the project and the journey so far.
21. Drain London’s success will depend on the extent to which it can engage with a wide range
of stakeholders to deliver the community flood risk management approach proposed. One of
the early tasks of the Programme Manager will be to develop a communications and
engagement strategy for the programme to ensure that key stakeholders are carried along
and information on programme development and implementation is available to boroughs
and other community stakeholders as well as the funding organisations.
22. It is proposed to hold a meeting of the wider Drain London Forum (as currently constituted)
before the end of March 2010.
Financial Implications for London Councils
23. There are no specific financial implications for London Councils from this report.
Legal Implications for London Councils
24. There are no specific legal implications for London Councils from this report.
Equalities Implications for London Councils
25. There are no specific equalities implications for London Councils from this report.
Recommendations
26. Members are recommended to:


Note progress so far made on programme delivery;
Agree to receive further reports as the programme develops.
Appendices
27. Appendix 1 – Drain London governance arrangements
28. Appendix 2 – Detailed output specification for Tier 1
Background Papers
Short file of document
“Drain London” and
Surface Water
Management Planning
for London
Date
16 July 2009
File
location
London
Councils
Contact
Officer
Michael Ojo
Exempt info Par
under Schedule 12A
n/a
London Councils’ TEC - 18 March 2010
Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 5
Appendix 1 – Drain London Governance Arrangements
The Drain London project will be managed at three levels. The Programme Management
Structure Chart below sets out the layers of governance, together with the respective duties and
responsibilities.
GLA
Mayors Office
Environment Programme Board
Legal and Finance teams
Drain London
Programme Board
Drain London
Forum
Programme Manager
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Area-level
Project Group
Drain London Programme Board
The Programme Board will advise the GLA (as accountable body for the DEFRA Grant) on the
expenditure of the DEFRA Grant, the appointment of consultants and strategic actions including
risk management options, the communications strategy and providing technical information and
advice to the Programme Manager and consultants.
Responsibilities
 To own and champion the Drain London vision and communicate the work of the Drain
London Forum.
 To agree and monitor the delivery of the work programme and ensure that the
programme is delivered according to the agreed work programme
 To advise the GLA regarding the expenditure of the DEFRA Grant
 To advise the GLA on the appointment of consultants to undertake the assessments and
develop actions plans.
 To advise the Programme Manager on technical issues
 To agree a prioritisation matrix for prioritising projects (Critical Drainage Area Actions
Plans, green roof subsidy areas and community flood plans).
 To agree on how to disburse the funding for the Green Roof Fund and the community
flood plans
 To ensure the Drain London Forum is kept updated on delivery of the work programme
 To agree the Communications Strategy
 To ensure that their respective organisations are kept abreast of progress
 To identify issues regarding DEFRA guidance on surface water management plans and
report to DEFRA on its effectiveness.
Membership
The Programme Board will be comprised of the founding members of the Drain London Forum
(representatives from the Environment Agency, Greater London Authority, London Councils and
Thames Water). DEFRA will have an observer role on the Programme Board.
Meetings
The Greater London Authority representative will chair the Programme Board, and it will meet
quarterly. A representative from each of the Programme Board member organisations is
required for the meeting to be quorate. Substitution is by exception only and in discussion with
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Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 6
the Chair. Administration support will be provided through the DEFRA funded project
management arrangements.
Programme Manager
The post will be appointed to manage the delivery of the work programme. The Programme
Manager will be responsible for making day-to-day decisions on implementing the work
programme. The Programme Manager will report to the Board, and be managed by the GLA
representative as chair of the Board, on a day-to-day basis.
Responsibilities
 To manage the work programme and maintain a programme delivery monitoring system
 To identify risks and unblock problems
 To report to the Programme Board on key risks, financial expenditure and programme
delivery
 To report to DEFRA on programme delivery and expenditure
 To develop (with the stage 1 consultants) a performance management framework that
incentivises Stage 2 and Stage 3 consultants to work collaboratively and build capacity
across partners
 To facilitate the procurement of consultants and ensure compliance with the GLA
Procurement Code
 To ensure that all consultants and all partners abide by the data management protocols
developed at Stage 1
 To manage the appointment of Stage 2 and Stage 3 consultants
 To ensure that Area groups are established and chairs nominated.
 To work with Area–level representatives to build capacity and ensure that assessments
and action plans are ‘owned’ at the Area-level.
 To devise a framework for disbursing funding for green roofs and community flood plans
 If required, to set up specialist advisory groups to advise the Board on technical issues
(e.g. data management)
 To develop a communications strategy
 To organise 2 meetings of the Drain London Forum per year.
Meetings
 To attend the quarterly Programme Board
 To produce the papers for the Board and follow up on actions identified at Board
meetings
 To attend the Area-level project meetings as required
 To organise and attend other meetings as required (e.g. technical issues meetings re
data management)
Area-level Project Group
London will be sub-divided into a number of ‘Areas’ at Stage 1. Each Area will be composed of a
number of Boroughs facing shared risk. Boroughs and other local representatives from other
Drain London Forum members (e.g. TfL) will be encouraged to form ‘Area-level Project Groups’
which will be teamed with a consultancy team to undertake Area-level Assessments. Each
consultancy team will have an authorised budget and work to an agreed project specification
developed at Stage 1. The Programme Manager will work with each of the Area-level groups to
agree an Area-level representative to chair the Area-level groups and lead on the Area-level
work programme.
Responsibilities
 To form an Area-level Group and appoint a Chair
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Agenda Item 15, Page 7





To work with the Programme Manager to ensure the appointed consultants work to the
agreed work programme and budget
To manage and facilitate the work of the consultants and ensure value for money
To ensure that the assessments and action plans developed are adopted into local
spatial plans, emergency plans and investment strategies
To provide monthly progress report to feed into the programme manager performance
framework, so that reporting to the board is effective.
To develop an area-level communications plan and ensure good stakeholder
engagement (including with LSPs).
Membership
London Boroughs, appointed consultants, other relevant stakeholders
Meetings
To hold a minimum of four area-level project group meetings (inception meeting, first meeting
with consultants, draft report and final report meetings)
Drain London Forum
The Forum has a general responsibility to actively participate and support the work by ensuring
an open and collaborative approach to achieving the project delivery at all levels.
Responsibilities
 To enable effective delivery of the project by facilitating the work of the programme
manager and Area-based groups by providing essential contacts and unblocking barriers
as required
 To comply with reasonable requests for data
 To maintain the interest and engagement of parent organisations
 To identify opportunities for match-funding and / or synergistic delivery with other projects
Membership
All organisations with a responsibility for, or information on surface water flooding
Meetings
Two formal meetings per year (organised by the Programme Manager)
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Agenda Item 15, Page 8
Appendix 2 - Tier 1 outcomes and outputs
In effect, Tier 1 sets up the framework for the rest of the project to operate efficiently and
effectively. Further detail on each of the seven elements of Tier 1 is provided below:
1. Subdividing London into a number of manageable ‘areas’.
The whole of London is too big an area within which to undertake a single flood risk
assessment. This element will subdivide London into a number of manageable ‘areas’ that
share a common flood risk (due to river catchment or drainage catchment) and where the
stakeholders can work together in partnership. Each ‘area’ should cover a maximum of 6
Boroughs. In defining the Areas, consultants will need to balance hydrological considerations
with the practicalities of existing working relationships between Boroughs. Consultants
should consider using the EA/ JBA susceptibility to surface water flood modelling, the
Regional Flood Risk Appraisal, the EA Catchment Flood Management Plans, Borough
Strategic Flood Risk Assessments, SWMPs where they exist, or are in development and
other appropriate information to define the Areas.
Outcome: The subdivision of London into a number of Areas that can be assessed at greater
detail and be used as the basis for enabling coherent partnership working.
Output: Map of the Area subdivisions, together with a report on the justification of the
proposed sub-divisions.
2. Collating the strategic scale information required for use at all Tiers of work
The Drain London Scoping Report identified in excess of 400 datasets relating to flooding
and flood risk management from over 50 stakeholders, and this was recorded in a spatial
metadatabase. This element will require:
 the collation of the strategic data identified in the spatial metadatabase, quality
assessment of it and uploading of it onto the Drain London Portal (see element 3).
 the identification of other strategic level data required for the project and advice to the
Programme Board on the costs (initial and on-going), licensing restrictions and
information management (including security and IPR issues) relating to the data
 the collation of new strategic data, such as the location of regionally important assets
(e.g. hospitals)
Outcome: the collation of the strategic data required for the project to enable the efficient and
effective working of all Tiers of the project
Outputs:
a) A report reviewing the availability and quality of the strategic-level data listed in the spatial
metadatabase
b) A report on the data that the project will need to purchase, together with the restrictions on
such data
c) A map and supporting database of regional–level vulnerable assets.
3. Creating an online portal for sharing information across and between Tiers of work
The Drain London Scoping Report proposed that rather than centralising all the data in a
single location, that the Forum should create a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI, or ‘Drain
London Portal’), where only strategic level data is held centrally and stakeholders retain
responsibility for the data they provide, but provide access to it through the SDI. The Scoping
Report proposes that the SDI should be constructed using the INSPIRE principles, whereby:
 Data should be collected once and maintained at the level where this can be done most
effectively
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Drain London Implementation Update
Agenda Item 15, Page 9




It should be possible to combine seamlessly spatial data from different sources and share
it between many users and applications
Spatial data should be collected at one level and shared between all levels
Spatial data needed for good governance should be available on conditions that are not
restricting its extensive use
It should be easy to discover which spatial data is available, to evaluate its fitness for
purpose and to know which conditions apply to its use.
Consultants will be required to work with the Drain London Forum members to create the
Drain London Portal. The portal will be hosted and managed by the GLA.
Outcome: a system of sharing information that facilitates analysis at strategic and local
levels, and where data providers retain ownership and responsibility for updating their own
data
Output: a Spatial Data Infrastructure hosted at the GLA.
4. Creating a framework for data and modelling standards
As identified in element 2, the project will require and generate a significant amount of data.
It is vital that:
 the data is of a quality appropriate to its use
 data providers retain the ownership of, and responsibility for updating their data and
informing other users of its quality status
 that access to the data is available to the Drain London Forum and their consultants
 that modelling software used on the project is compatible across and between Tiers
 that proprietary models and restrictions in use due to intellectual property rights are
avoided wherever possible.
Consultants will be required to create a framework that includes the above issues that will be
used by all stakeholders and consultants at all Tiers to ensure the efficient and effective
delivery of the project and it’s on-going
Outcome: information required and developed by the project is of a quality appropriate to its
use and freely available to the Drain London Forum and its consultants.
Output: A framework that defines data and modelling quality and compatibility that can
signed up to by the Drain London Forum and their consultants.
5. Creating a framework to encourage efficient and collaborative working across and between
Tiers
The scope and scale of the project, combined with the short deadline for completion, will
require multiple teams of consultants to work across and between the Tiers of the project.
The Tier 1 consultants will therefore be required to develop an easy to implement and
monitor framework that encourages and enables Tier 2 and 3 consultants to work efficiently
and effectively, in parallel or sequentially, with other consultants. The framework should
promote inter-consultancy co-operation and collaborative working and discourage the use of
proprietary software and the imposition of intellectual property rights.
Outcome: Consultants work collaboratively across and between Tiers to enable the efficient
and effective achievement of the Drain London objectives
Output: A framework and monitoring system.
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Agenda Item 15, Page 10
6. Develop a prioritisation matrix
The project does not have the time, or budget to develop detailed SWMPs for every area at
flood risk in London. It is therefore necessary to develop a matrix for prioritising which CDAs
are considered for further work at Tier 3 and which CDAs will be prioritised within Tier 3. The
matrix will need to be risk-based (i.e. consider probability, exposure and vulnerability), but
also the ability of the Drain London project to make meaningful recommendations (for
instance, if the only option to manage risk in a CDA is the separation of the storm water
drainage system, costing tens of millions of pounds, then the Drain London project is not
resourced to develop a detailed, costed SWMP for that CDA).
The Tier 1 consultants will therefore be required to develop a matrix that enables the Drain
London Programme Board to decide which CDAs are considered for Tier 3 work and which
of the CDAs will be prioritised for developing detailed, costed SWMPs.
Outcome: the Drain London Programme Board is able to prioritise Tier 3 funding based upon
a transparent prioritisation rationale.
Output: A prioritisation matrix plus supporting report.
7. Provide programme management
The project will require programme management for the duration of the project (concluding
31-03-11) to ensure that the programme is delivered to time and budget and meets the
requirements of the DEFRA grant. It is anticipated that a Programme Manager will be
required for an average of 3 days per week, though the work may be front-loaded at the
beginning of each Tier. The Programme Manager will be responsible for:
 Making day-to-day decisions on implementing the work programme (identifying problems
and implementing solutions)
 Developing and implementing a communications strategy for the project
 Supporting the Programme Board in procuring and project managing the consultants for
Tiers 2 and 3 (in accordance with the GLA procurement strategy and the Drain London
Terms of Reference)
 Overseeing the development of the data and modelling quality framework and the
consultants’ performance framework and ensuring that they are implemented
 Organising and facilitating the meetings of the Programme Board and the Drain London
Forum
 Working with stakeholders to create and support the Area-level Partnerships
 Representing the Project where necessary at stakeholder meetings and in response to
media enquiries
The Programme Manager will report to the Programme Board, and be managed on a day-today basis by the GLA project lead (as representative of the Accountable Body for the project
and chair of the Programme Board). Consultants should provide the CVs and day rates for
their proposed Programme Manager/s.
Outcome: A) The Drain London project is delivered to time, budget and meets the
requirements of the DEFRA grant.
B) The Drain London Forum is engaged, informed and owns the outputs of the project.
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