THIS MONTH IN ENGINEERING | January 31, 1953 | When Waterproofing Became a System
- Rebeka Zubac
- Jul 7
- 2 min read
On the night of 31 January 1953, a severe European windstorm drove a surge of seawater through the North Sea. What followed was one of the worst natural disasters in modern European history. The flood breached over 1,000 sea defences in the UK and devastated parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern Germany.
In the Netherlands alone, 1,836 lives were lost, 200,000 hectares of land were submerged, and more than 47,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. In England, the storm claimed 307 lives and forced the evacuation of 30,000 people. Many died in their sleep. The water arrived silently.
Waterproofing as a building discipline has ancient roots, from Roman concrete aqueducts to bitumen-lined cisterns. Historical methods laid the groundwork from lime pozzolan mixtures in Roman vaults to bitumen-laden felts in the early 20th century. But many early solutions were rigid, with limited crack tolerance and no redundancy. Water ingress often progressed silently, undetected until failure was widespread and costly.
The failures of 1953 marked a turning point. Waterproofing was no longer an afterthought but a defined system, actively designed to manage risk rather than merely resist it.
The flood triggered major infrastructure reforms. The Netherlands launched the Delta Works, a colossal coastal defence initiative consisting of 3 locks, 6 dams and 5 storm surge barriers. Completed in 1997, it was later named the most prestigious hydraulic engineering project in the world by the International Federation of Engineers in 2013. The UK also reinforced more than 500 kilometres of sea wall defences. But the shift didn’t stop at flood infrastructure. It influenced how buildings were designed to handle moisture from the ground up.
Waterproofing became a coordinated discipline, an integrated response to water movement above, below, and within the structure. Systems now address groundwater, surface flow, internal discharge and vapour. They protect against catastrophic failure and everyday challenges like mould, corrosion and maintenance defects.
These systems are layered and flexible, designed with movement, pressure and long-term performance in mind. They incorporate bonded membranes, active drainage and pressure relief strategies that adapt with the building over time.
At Goldfish & Bay, our waterproofing design is clear, coordinated and built into the project from the beginning. By working closely with structural, hydraulic and architectural teams, we make waterproofing a core part of the design, not a reactive fix.
🔗 Sources:
The Guardian “1953 North Sea Flood Devastates Europe" | Environment & Society Portal | Rijkswaterstaat “Eastern Scheldt Barrier” | Architects Datafile “A Technical History of Waterproofing”
