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Ask the Manufacturer - Burdens


LEFT TO RIGHT: Mark Gillies, Ken Graham and Andrew Taylor


James Parker speaks to Burdens’ national sales director Ken Graham, technical sales manager Andrew Taylor, and director of technical solutions Mark Gillies. They tackle the key questions on how developers can take a more holistic approach to stormwater management, the role of natural and engineered SuDS, and how specialist expertise can help projects save time, cash and carbon.


WHY IS STORMWATER MANAGEMENT BECOMING SUCH A CRITICAL ISSUE FOR HOUSEBUILDERS & DEVELOPERS, PARTICULARLY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 1.5M HOMES TARGET & THE NEED TO BUILD ON FLOOD PLAINS? Graham: Stormwater management has become critical because of the increasing frequency of severe weather events and the pressure this puts on traditional drainage systems. When those systems are overwhelmed, we see the consequences in the form of serious fl ooding. At the same time, development has replaced areas of open land where water would previously have naturally soaked into the ground. We are now dealing with much larger volumes of water entering an ageing drainage system, so every development needs to consider how that water is going to be managed and attenuated. We are seeing more intense rainfall and heavier downpours, which has increased the need for SuDS and systems that can manage water more effi ciently. With millions of properties already at risk of fl ooding, it really highlights why these solutions need to be planned, designed, installed and maintained properly.


CAN YOU BREAK DOWN WHAT CONSTITUTES STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AS AN OVERALL STRATEGY FOR A DEVELOPMENT? Taylor: There isn’t one single solution. The most common approaches include underground attenuation tanks and soakaways, which store water and release it at a controlled rate. But there are also swales, detention basins, retention ponds, permeable paving, rain gardens, and rain planters.


The important thing is to look at the development holistically – you can have several of those solutions working together. A large underground tank might


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provide the bulk of the storage, while rain gardens, permeable paving or smaller soakaways deal with water at the individual plot level.


Even the more natural-looking solutions have an engineered element behind them. There are calculations around how much water each feature needs to store and how it will perform during a storm event. So it’s about combining the right solutions for the site rather than automatically choosing one approach.


HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON THE BALANCE BETWEEN NATURAL AND ENGINEERED OR BELOW-GROUND SUDS IN EACH DEVELOPMENT? Graham: It really comes down to what is right for that particular site. Two contractors looking at the same piece of land could potentially want to attenuate the water in completely different ways. That’s where we come in. We’re not trying to push one particular solution. Our role is to understand what the developer or contractor is trying to achieve and then offer the right solution for that situation. The site, its topography, available space, cost and the overall design all hae an infl uence. Sometimes a deelopment will enefi t from a larger natural feature, while on another site there simply isn’t the space, and an underground solution makes more sense. ts aout fi nding the right alance.


HOW DO NATURAL SUDS FEATURES HELP TO INCREASE THE RESIDENT APPEAL AS WELL AS BIODIVERSITY OF DEVELOPMENTS, AND WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT IN THE CURRENT MARKET? Gillies: When SuDS are done well, they can transform the amenity value of a development. Ponds, swales and other green solutions can support biodiversity and wellbeing, while also making a development feel softer and more natural.


There is a real opportunity to create developments that feel more balanced and liveable rather than simply being rows of houses surrounded by hard landscaping. Natural SuDS can help retain some of the character of the land while also providing a genuine drainage function. For developers, that’s important because these features can become part of the wider proposition of the development. A pond or swale isn’t simply somewhere to put excess water; if it’s designed properly, it can become an attractive and multifunctional part of the environment.


IS IT VERY DIFFICULT TO INCORPORATE COMPREHENSIVE NATURAL SUDS IN TIGHT URBAN SITES? Gillies: It can be challenging, particularly where space is constrained, but that’s where taking a holistic approach becomes important. Natural solutions such as ponds and swales can take up more space, whereas underground storage allows developers to make better use of the available land and potentially create more room for plots.


The answer isn’t necessarily to choose natural or engineered solutions. It can be about combining them. You might have a larger underground system dealing with the bulk of the storage while incorporating smaller-scale natural features such as rain gardens or permeable paving elsewhere across the development. The earlier those decisions are made, the more options the developer has available.


WHY IS EARLY-STAGE THINKING ON SUDS IMPORTANT AND WHO TYPICALLY TAKES CHARGE OF DESIGN? Taylor: It needs to be considered at the earliest possible stage, ideally during concept design and planning. If you know you want ponds, basins or swales as part of the development, the housing layout


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