The Attraction of Water

Floating Concepts — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:18:37 +0000

Water is, of course essential for life and, from time immemorial, people have been attracted to water. The source of its attraction was intially for domestic consumption and as a source of food then later as a power source. During the industrial revolution, the attraction of water increased for the development of towns and cities which could exploit it as a means of transporting goods and people and as a convenient sewer. For much of history it was also the prime means of transporting goods and people, and in many cases, the open sewer of society which it served. It is no coincidence that our cities and towns developed along river banks to exploit these characteristics.

Indeed, where natural water systems didn’t exist or were isolated, new waterways were built to provide these vital attributes. Canal systems were the drivers of industrial revolutions across the world. The development of such artificial waterways was much earlier than is commonly realised. For example the King Menes canal was built in Upper Egypt in 4000 BC!

It is clear that mankind has a natural and close affinity with water which goes beyond its utilitarian uses. People chose to live near water even when previous water supply, industrial and transport functions moved to new locations or were superseded when the movement of industrial goods transferred to rail and road.

This desire to live, work and play on or near water has therefore become the primary reason behind the huge success of waterside regeneration in recent years.

The most appealing and valuable new build in such developments is normally positioned as close to the water as construction techniques allow. Structures built on stilts or on artificial islands have been the dominant forms of achieving the ultimate closeness to water and additionally providing protection against flooding. However these solutions have significant drawbacks in terms of cost, aesthetics, maintenance and ecology .

In an effort to address these issues recent years have seen an increasing interest in floating buildings although political, technical and economic challenges have hindered an extensive use of this solution to the challenge of getting as close to the water as possible.

Our mission at Floating Concepts is to bring floating buildings to the forefront of development options. Over the past few years we have been refining the technology, optimising financing solutions and setting up supply chains. This will enable us over the next few years to bring to market our plans for buildings which will allow people to achieve their own dreams of living, working and playing by water.

In future blogs we will tell you more about our progress and of the important attributes which our buildings have in terms of buildability, affordability and sustainability.

Author: Derek Cochrane

For further information about Floating Concepts, please visit http://www.floatingconcepts.co.uk or call 01625 400 802.

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The Attraction of Water