Town CLIMATE RISK
Kirkwall is a town, within the Orkney Islands council area. The settlement runs to the UK coastline.
Kirkwall inherits its flood band (Higher) from the wider Orkney Islands council area because SEPA does not publish settlement-level breakdowns for every UK location. Search any postcode in Kirkwall below for the address-level reading from SEPA flood risk maps.
Annual mean PM2.5 across the Orkney Islands area is 3.6 µg/m³ - close to the World Health Organisation guideline of 5 µg/m³. Within Kirkwall, readings are not flat: postcodes within 200 metres of an A-road or major junction routinely run 30-50% higher during weekday rush hours than residential streets two roads back. The figure is a council-level Defra UK-AIR estimate (1km modelled grid).
Ground stability in Kirkwall follows the underlying geology more than the postal boundary. British Geological Survey shrink-swell mapping follows the underlying geology rather than postal boundaries, and neighbouring streets can sit in different bands where the mapped clay unit ends. Pre-1980 housing on clay-rich ground is the most exposed; properties on bedrock or well-drained sandy soils are typically lower-risk. A postcode-level check picks up that variation.
A free postcode check on LocalRisk covers up to six hazards for any address in Kirkwall: SEPA flood mapping, BGS ground stability, Met Office heat projections, Defra PM2.5, plus coastal erosion and green-space access where relevant. The postcode list below opens an address-level report for each postcode in Kirkwall; the council link at the top of this page returns to the wider Orkney Islands picture.
Council area level (Orkney Islands). Search a postcode for detail.