Foundational Data for Scotland’s Flood Defence Assets

SEPA is seeking to create a foundational asset register for flood defence asset data in Scotland, to be referred to as the Scottish Flood Asset Register and the development of an Arc GIS field mapper tool for undertaking T98 assessments. Develop an Arc GIS database that will form the Scottish Flood Asset Register database.

This dataset will include a desk-based assessment of over 200 assets to identify the location of the assets, description of the assets, ownership (as far practical), asset discretisation, asset ID and identifying access constraints and any health and safety concerns. Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews should also be conducted with the 32 Local Authorities to collect critical local knowledge from the local authorities.

It is anticipated that the Environment Agency’s Data Requirements Library (DRL) will be used and the Condition Assessment Manual (CAM) (latest guidance) and any other relevant national standards. Develop a data collection app using the Field Collector Tool or Survey 123 (Arc GIS) to facilitate efficient data collection for condition assessments.

This will need to have links with the Flood Asset Register and require the relevant fields and schemas to support the condition assessment using the Environment Agency’s CAM manual. Undertake Topographical survey on the 6 priority flood defence schemes including top of bank, in channel survey, in channel structures and floodplain survey.

This can include different survey methods and techniques such as on the ground surveys, boat surveys and drone surveys. The Environment Agency’s National Standard Technical Specification for surveying Services will be used.

Condition assessment – undertake condition inspections of the 6 priority areas using the Environment Agency’s T98 method in the CAM manual. This could be in the field visual inspections or via desk-based asset inspection using high resolution photogrammetry and videos taken during the topographical surveys. Build upon an existing model for one priority area to establish exceedance thresholds to inform key questions about when the scheme may over top and the areas that may be at risk from an exceedance event.