Ed Barsley is a designer, author, artist and entrepreneur. He is an expert in environmental design, with a particular interest in developing strategies to improve the resilience of communities and the built/natural environment. His practice ‘The Environmental Design Studio’(TEDS) is an award-winning social venture which won the Sunday Times ‘Resilient Home’ competition with their design of the ‘Home for All Seasons’. In January 2020, Ed’s book ‘Retrofitting for Flood Resilience: A Guide to Building & Community Design’ was published by the RIBA and showcases hundreds of strategies for resilience that span the catchment, community, street and building scale. Ed is a fellow of the RSA and a member of DEFRA’s roundtable on flooding. He’s delivered keynotes at flood conferences/events worldwide and since 2018 has been running the RIBA’s core lecture series on flood resilient design and well as helping develop the UK’s national training on Property Flood Resilience. Alongside running his practice, Ed has been involved with a number of Research Council-funded studies, including the PhD he has been working on at the University of Cambridge on flood-resilient architecture and the communication of risk. In 2020, Ed launched the ‘Hazard and Hope’ initiative, to inform and inspire adaptation and resilience to a changing climate. In 2022, he spoke on the Climate Stage at Glastonbury and later that summer launched the ‘Climate Creatives Challenge‘, an international design competition supporting new and novel approaches to climate communication.

Flood Re is a joint initiative between the Government and the insurance industry that exists to promote the affordability and availability of flood insurance for homes across the UK. Our operation promotes a competitive insurance market that customers can take advantage of. Flood Re does not set consumer prices – this remains a decision for insurers to make. Insurers can place the flood risk element of domestic property insurance with us at a premium linked to property Council Tax bands. Flood Re sits in the background, with the purchase of the policy and the process of making a claim being unchanged.

As of April 2022 we launched Build Back Better which is designed to reduce the cost and impact of future floods by including property resilience measures as part of flood repairs. Build Back Better offers homeowners the chance to install Property Flood Resilience measures up to the value of £10,000 when repairing their properties after a flood. This way the next time the area floods their home will be better prepared to keep as much of the water out as possible. Measures can also be installed so that when water does enter it is easier, quicker and safer for families to clean up and move back in – often in a number of days rather than many months.

Naomi Slade is a journalist, author, designer and consultant. She works extensively within the gardening and lifestyle media as a writer and broadcaster and in 2022 won the Garden Media Guild Practical Journalist of the Year Award. To date, she has written nine gardening books including best-selling ‘Hydrangeas’, part of a series of illustrated monographs. ‘RHS The Winter Garden’ will be released in September ’23.

With extensive shows and events experience gained over a 25-year career in gardening, Naomi has three Silver-Gilt medals for educational exhibits at Chelsea Flower Show and masterminded the extensive rebuild of The Growing Schools Garden following Hampton Court Flower Show. Having studied biology and ecology, she often incorporates themes of sustainability and conservation in her designs and she also enjoys the challenge of a conceptual garden. Her punk-themed, ‘Never Mind the Hollyhocks’ won Gold and Best in Show at the National Gardening Show, and she staged a well-received feature garden, based on the Wisley Winter Walk, at the RHS Early Spring Show in 2018.

Visit www.naomislade.com to learn more about Naomi.