SUDs Design and Drainage Strategy

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SUDs Design and Drainage Strategy

Sustainable drainage is becoming an increasingly important consideration in planning developments and our highly experienced team will help you devise an effective strategy that will satisfy both local and national regulations.

Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are designed to mimic natural drainage and planning authorities are now calling for developers to demonstrate consideration of the available surface and foul water drainage options during feasibility scoping exercises and certainly prior to submitting an application. This is particularly relevant in areas prone to flooding.

Principles that should influence the planning and design process include

Storing runoff and releasing it slowly (attenuation)
Harvesting and using the rain close to where it falls
Allowing water to soak into the ground (infiltration)
Slowly transporting (conveying) water on the surface
Filtering out pollutants
Allowing sediments to settle out by controlling the flow of the water

Our team will advise on a SUDs design in accordance with the The SUDs manual and BRE DG365 and can include schematics, design and calculations for a client’s approval and subsequent submission for planning consent.

A Drainage Strategy will:

Determine how surface water discharge (runoff) will be managed
Comply with the requirements of National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
Determine how foul water drainage will be managed
Show whether an upgrade of the existing public sewer network is required

Our drainage strategy will make an assessment of all available surface water drainage options for the development site and show that the rate of surface water discharge (runoff) will not exceed the existing site conditions.

For proposed greenfield development sites, the strategy will consider the topography, ground conditions and the proximity to watercourses and surface water public sewers in relation to surface water drainage requirements.

Achieving water management targets then involves the appropriate inclusion of features such as soakaways, infiltration basins, swales, permeable pavements, filter strips and balancing ponds.

Our expertise in the design, selection and layout of such features enables us to deliver solutions that are sustainable, cost effective and meet with the required local and national standards.

If the development is on a previously developed ‘brownfield’ site, the strategy will seek to utilise the existing discharge disposal arrangement to watercourses, soakaways or public sewers.

The accompanying foul water drainage strategy will consider the proximity and capacity of existing foul water public sewers and also the site topography. We will recommend a capacity check to check if an upgrade of the existing foul water public sewer network is required to meet sustainability targets and not overwhelm the current provision.

Syntegra has experts specialising in flood risk, below ground drainage design, highways design, transportation, foul sewage and utilities assessment, geotechnics and land quality to inform critical decisions on infrastructure design. It’s an illustration of the importance of getting infrastructure right to ensure a site works seamlessly for all parties and provides ‘best value’ engineering.