“A couple of interesting articles and associated White Paper from the ICE and Wavin ahead of the implementation of Sewers for Adoption 8th edition in mid-2019;
For the first time SFA 8th ed. will include guidance on the design and construction of sustainable drainage systems; opening the doors for water authorities to accept such features for adoption within England. The White Paper gives an overview into the significant moves that have been made in the last year to 18 months in regards to flood management policy, giving SuDS a giant leap forward in terms of becoming mainstream as oppose to the exception. The ICE and Wavin have developed a new partnership to promote forward thinking including delivering an agile sprint focused on SuDS, with four different knowledge concepts mapping out user journeys for each; all of which help inform debate on how to find effective SuDS solutions for excess surface water.
There was definitely some outside of the box thinking, including the suggestion that Sir David Attenborough is brought on board to demonstrate the message that ‘SuDS are a must’ in the same way he brought forward the agenda on single-use plastics.
I also thought Wavin’s take on mainstreaming SuDS put a positive and more universal perspective forward – “We are not that far away from SuDS becoming mainstream. In three years’ time sustainable drainage could just become drainage, much like BIM design will eventually just become design.”
In terms of projects that I am involved with, as well as the Civils teams in our other offices, the design and implementation of SuDS within developments has taken increasing precedence in terms of land procurement, securing planning and project delivery that achieve effective surface water management and multi-functional benefits to the overall schemes.”
Andrea O’Shea – Senior Civil Engineer, Jubb
