Nick Darling-Drewett

I am a Member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and an Associate Member of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (AMIEnvSc). I’ve been working in the flood risk sector since 2016, and during that time, I’ve learned that every site - from a private home to a national infrastructure project - deserves a bespoke solution. As Lead Consultant at Aegaea I pride myself on my ability to tackle complex technical puzzles and turn them into successful planning applications. My goal is to bridge the gap between technical modelling and practical development, ensuring your project is safe, compliant, and ready to build.

How I can help you

• Navigating National & Local Policy: I provide robust knowledge of UK National Flood Risk Planning Policies and have extensive experience with local policy variations across the country.
• Strategic Project Management: Whether you are a private developer or a government agency, I manage multi-disciplinary teams to deliver seamless flood risk and drainage strategies.
• Infrastructure & Energy Expertise: I specialise in securing approvals for complex schemes, including solar farms, telecommunications (4G/5G), and national utility assets.
• Technical Problem Solving: From overseeing 1D-2D hydraulic modelling to designing detailed surface water drainage, I find the “technical yes” for challenging sites.

Expertise in action

• Unlocking Residential Potential (Sussex): I managed the modelling and FRA for a 120-home development on a site divided by a number of ordinary watercourses. While the site was in Flood Zone 1, this was more due to a lack of modelling by the EA rather than an absence of risk - evidenced by the Risk of Flooding from Surface Water (RoFSW) dataset indicating areas of high risk along the river corridors. Despite outline consent previously being granted, this was at a time when the RoFSW mapping held less weight in planning; whereas by the time of the Reserved Matters application, when the site layout was being fixed, it posed a significant constraint by widespread flow paths cutting across the site developable area. By recommending strategic re-landscaping, and site layout optimisation (creation of two stage channels and flood storage areas), we proved the site could be developed safely, to the quantum required by the developer, without increasing risk elsewhere, securing approval for the client. The scheme has since been completed inclusive of a care home within the site too.

• Informing Masterplans on Strategic Allocations (Thurrock): I oversaw site-specific pluvial hydraulic modelling, a flood risk assessment, and surface water and foul drainage strategy for an outline residential-led mixed-use development for circa 450 homes, a school, and community centre, in Thurrock. The site was heavily constrained by pluvial flood risk but I identified the potential for refinement of the risk extents through incorporation of channel and culvert surveys, which allowed a more cohesive site masterplan layout, ultimately approved by the LLFA. Areas still identified as being at risk based on our detailed modelling, were retained as soft landscaping, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) areas, and playing fields. In combination with the pluvial flood risk, site levels also posed a constraint to this application, as we sought a gravity SuDS system whilst working within the assigned developable area. This meant that some land raising was required in some parcels to facilitate this - but again the hydraulic modelling demonstrated that this could be achieved without an increase in flood risk offsite.

  Figure 1. The proposed masterplan overlaid with modelled maximum flood depths for the 1 in 1000 year event. Development parcels sit outside the modelled extent, with lower-lying land retained for open space, sports pitches and nature areas. (Site labels and grid references redacted.)

• National Infrastructure Resilience: I’ve supported major utility providers by delivering FRA and Drainage Strategies for over 50 sites including wastewater treatment works, pump station infrastructure, telecommunications installations, and critical electricity substations. Given the nature of wastewater treatment works specifically they are typically in regions impacted by rivers and fluvial flood risk. However flooding of the assets can have significant consequences and thus my expertise on these types of projects mitigates the risks of objections at planning stage but also operational risk for the asset owners/ managers. The same can be said for electricity substations - flooding a substation can render thousands of people without power; therefore considering flood risk constraints to such assets is key not only for new substation works but for portfolio analysis of existing substations too.

• Renewable Energy (Solar Farms): I act as the lead contact for renewable energy developers, creating bespoke mitigation strategies that manage runoff from solar arrays while promoting environmental enhancement. I’ve overseen the production of detailed hydrology, and 1D-2D hydraulic modelling to inform FRA works to support an Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) Development Consent Order (DCO) solar farm application; within a complex, low-lying, pumped catchment. Breach modelling was also required to demonstrate to the EA that a credible maximum worst case scenario had been considered in the design of the scheme including vulnerable assets such as the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and transformers.

  Figure 2. Baseline fluvial hydraulic model output for the 1 in 1000 year event. Modelled flood depths across the site and wider catchment, with the 1D watercourse network shown in green and the site boundary in red. (Place names and grid references redacted.)

• Flagship Community Projects: I have spearheaded the flood and drainage strategy works for several lottery-funded schemes under the National Lottery Heritage Fund. These have included park and community space redevelopments in Hertfordshire, which involved re-aligning riverbanks, removing and incorporating new footbridges (East Herts 3/25/2005/FUL), weir removals, and in-channel habitat creation. Others have been joint projects with Local Planning Authorities and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), for improvements to their wetland sites in the south of England - the works were seeking to alter water level control infrastructure to better retain water during specific breeding seasons to improve the wetlands for the bird population.

• Retrospective Pond Developments: I have supported several clients in retrospective applications, or enforcement appeals, for constructed ponds/ water bodies built without permission. In each case, I have overseen detailed hydraulic modelling and calculations to verify that the development as constructed has not increased flood risk offsite - and in many cases actually reduced downstream risk. One of which was an enforcement appeal - which the Inspector allowed following our case submission.

A bit about me

Having grown up in Bristol, then lived in Sussex for 6 years, I’m now back west, in Worcester. My time in Sussex diluted my dulcet West Country accent, which people tell me is probably for the best! When I’m not unlocking tricky development sites, much of my time is now taken up being a Dad to my daughter - who does share a name with a river in the UK, just a coincidence though! I’m sure she’ll be writing FRAs in no time!

Also, I have two very ‘enthusiastic’ dogs. They’ve been known to “remodel” a sofa or two in the past, but I’m hopeful those days are behind us!