Flood Re has been working with designers Naomi Slade and Ed Barsley to bring the Flood Resilient Garden to life at Chelsea Flower Show 2024. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent and severe, adaptation of our gardens and outdoor space (however big) will play an increasingly important role in preventing flooding.
Extreme weather events are putting our homes and gardens at risk of flooding, we can harness the power of nature in our gardens to protect our homes.
Filled with ideas and features to improve flood resilience, this garden is both beautiful and purposeful and will respond and adapt to the challenges of heavy rain and surface water flooding by embracing the water as a feature and harnessing it for future use.
An introduction from Flood Re’s General Counsel, Harriet Boughton


The garden
Dense planting slows the flow, while water is also captured and stored for later use. After heavy rain, the elevated deck and mound – linked by a bridge over a central swale – provide both habitable places for people, and well-drained soil for the plants that need it.
The swale forms a stream, channelling rainwater into a feature pond where it can gradually soak away, while large tanks double as ornamental ponds which store water for later use, and can be discharged ahead of further rain, using smart-technology.
The planting is green and lush, with pops of jewel-colours, yet it is as tough as it is beautiful, and appropriate for the range of soil conditions. A large apple tree demonstrates the value of slopes for drainage, while a range of pond and bog plants are well adapted to varying degrees of water inundation.
The design
Designed by Naomi Slade and Ed Barsley, The Flood Re Flood Resilient Garden is designed to be both a relatable enjoyable and beautiful space, and to help reduce flood risk and recover quickly after periods of heavy rainfall.
Flooding is a growing issue in the UK. One in four homes is at risk of damage to property and gardens, and the associated physical and psychological trauma. The Flood Re Flood Resilient Garden will be inspiring, aesthetically pleasing, and full of useful ideas to future-proof our gardens and address the disruption that flooding brings.

Ed Barsley The Environmental Design Studio (TEDS)

Ed Barsley The Environmental Design Studio (TEDS)
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

Flood Re
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

Naomi Slade
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.
Check out The Flood Resilient Garden on Instagram @flood_resilient_garden