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Flood Resilience

We go beyond building-code compliance to protect your assets from current and future flood risks.

Lead Contacts

NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design, New York, New York.
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design, New York, New York. Thornton Tomasetti
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design, New York, New York.
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design, New York, New York. Thornton Tomasetti
East River Park Fireboat House, Flood Resilience, New York, New York.
East River Park Fireboat House, Flood Resilience, New York, New York. Wally Gobetz via Flickr
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design - Flip-up Flood Barrier Testing, New York, New York.
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design - Flip-up Flood Barrier Testing, New York, New York. Thornton Tomasetti
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design - Science Building Flood Barrier Testing, New York, New York.
NYU Langone Medical Center, Smilow Research Institute, Perimeter Flood Mitigation Design - Science Building Flood Barrier Testing, New York, New York. Thornton Tomasetti

All around us, signs of climate change are evident: Torrential wind and rains. Melting ice caps. Unprecedented changes in the weather. Scientists have predicted that global sea levels could rise by as much as 12 inches by 2050, exposing an inestimable number of structures to potential flood risk. We can prepare your new and existing buildings and infrastructure to weather the storm before floodwaters encroach.

Need a flood-mitigation strategy? Not sure where to begin? No worries! We don’t just bring your building up to code; we walk you through every step of the process and detail all the options, taking future climate-change projections into account. Then we customize a flood emergency action plan that empowers you to respond to flooding events and deploy resilience measures – long after we’ve left the premises. 


There’s a fine line between code-based flood mitigation and performance-based flood resilience. We can help you cross it.

Our resilience professionals understand the ins and outs of federal, state and local regulations that legislate minimum standards for flood mitigation. We can help you cross the line between flood mitigation and flood resilience, moving beyond codes that focus primarily on life safety to ensure that your building not only safeguards occupants but recovers more quickly from flooding or even remains fully operational during and after a flood.

We work within your budget to find the most effective measures that meet or exceed your resilience goals. And when it isn’t feasible to prevent all water from entering a building, we can design strategies that keep it from spreading, limit damage, or incorporate water-damage resistant materials. 

Mitigation measures like passive and deployable flood barriers, water-damage resistant materials, placement of critical equipment on upper floors, and even elevating portions of the building above the floodplain – we know them all. And we understand which ones work best, both functionally and aesthetically, in any situation. We can also provide short-term solutions to protect against predicted weather events like hurricanes until a long-term solution can be installed.

Here’s How

Our resilience team has led flood risk assessments and resilience design for organizations throughout the U.S. Here’s how we can help you:

  • Bid specifications, contract documentation, permit assistance, obtainment of regulatory approvals, and construction administration for flood resilience measures.
  • Cost-benefit analyses to prioritize resilience measures that offer the greatest value to clients.
  • Emergency preparedness and response planning, including training and annual reviews.
  • Engineering design of temporary and permanent flood resilience measures.
  • FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program proposals and reporting.
  • Hazard analyses and climate risk and vulnerability assessments using performance-based design.
  • Site-specific, integrated resilience strategies for new and existing buildings and infrastructure.

Further Reading

News & Resources

Climate Risk Assessments
November 01, 2023
Climate risk assessments are an important early step in identifying site-specific climate hazards and how those hazards may change over the lifespan of a building.

Rapid Assessment Approach
August 16, 2023
For specific geographic locations, hurricanes are a near certainty—it’s a matter of when, not if. Our firm has extensive experience helping clients both plan for the inevitable and execute a rapid assessment approach in the aftermath of a storm.

Flood Resilience for Hurricanes
July 10, 2023
Climate change brings rising water levels, rendering many structures vulnerable to potential flooding. In fact, scientists have predicted that global sea levels could rise by as much as 12 inches by 2050. Add hurricanes to the mix, and it’s more important than ever for owners to establish flood resilience strategies ahead of a storm.

Preparing for Hurricane Season 2023
June 01, 2023
As we approach the start of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, let’s take a look back at the 2022 season, as well as the developing El Niño, and learn what this means for the season to come.