26 ASK THE MANUFACTURER - BURDENS


needs to work around those features rather than trying to fi nd somewhere to put them once the houses hae already been designed.


ooing at it early allows you to consider how much land is reuired, what the costs are and what you want the deelopment to loo and feel lie. f you leae it until the end, your options ecome much more constrained, and you can end up trying to shoehorn drainage features into whateer space is left. t should e part of the wider design process, with the deeloper, designer, contractor and releant specialists woring together, rather than treating drainage as something that is added at the end.


WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO DEVELOPERS WHO WANT TO TAKE A MORE PROACTIVE APPROACH TO HOLISTIC STORMWATER MANAGEMENT BUT ARE UNSURE WHERE TO START? Gillies: Start as early as possile. oncept planning, detailed design and construction all need to e considered as part of the same process.


he earlier SuS are emedded into a scheme, the more cost-effectie the whole process can e. f you wait until construction is under way, you may hae to go ac, mae changes and alter specifi cations, which costs oth time and money.


ts also aout getting the right people around the tale. f eeryone wors together from the outset, you can loo at the different solutions aailale and mae sure the fi nal approach is practical to install, cost-effectie and appropriate for the site.


WHAT ABOUT MAINTENANCE – WHO MAINTAINS SUDS INSTALLATIONS, AND WHAT HAPPENS IF MAINTENANCE ISN’T FACTORED INTO DESIGN? Taylor: aintenance is asolutely critical, particularly for systems that are uried underground and out of sight. Wee seen drawings for attenuation tanks where there isnt suffi cient access for inspection or maintenance. f you cant get into a system, how are you going to clean it and eep it performing properly he same principle applies to aoe-ground drainage. ou can see eisting schemes where road gullies or channel drainage hae ecome loced ecause they haent een maintained. he design may hae een perfectly adeuate, ut if the system isnt looed after, its performance will decline. With underground attenuation, silt,


fi nes and oils can uild up oer time, reducing the aailale storage capacity and potentially causing prolems further down the networ. So access for


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inspection, cleaning and maintenance needs to e considered as part of the original design, rather than treated as an afterthought.


WHAT ARE GEOSYNTHETICS AND WHY DO THEY PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SUDS? Gillies: eosynthetics are typically man-made polymers used as alue-engineered alternaties to traditional construction methods. ne of their ey functions is fi ltration, which maes them particularly well suited to SuS applications.


heyre still relatiely underused when people are considering SuS. or eample, grass and grael paers made from recycled plastics can proide a permeale surface that allows rainfall to pass through naturally, remoing the need for some traditional drainage infrastructure.


hey can also e used as part of the layers eneath the surface, alongside geotetiles, su-ase materials and, where reuired, geogrids. on-woen geotetiles, for eample, proide strong fi ltration properties. he wider enefi t is that geosynthetics can reduce the olume of traditional stone reuired, as well as reducing installation time and the need to moilise heay plant. hat can hae a signifi cant impact on time, cash and caron.


WHY IS THERE AN ISSUE AROUND PRODUCTS IN THE MARKET WITHOUT CLEAR ACCREDITATION? Gillies: eelopers need confi dence that the products theyre specifying are going to perform as intended. here are products on the maret where the information proided may e ased on a manufacturers data sheet rather than being supported by the appropriate declaration of performance or releant standard. hat can mae it diffi cult for specifi ers to understand eactly what theyre getting and how the product compares with an estalished standard. or eample, urdens te W non-woen geotetile meets the S  standard. aing the appropriate standards, accreditations and supporting documentation gies designers and contractors greater confi dence in the performance and suitaility of the product.


WHAT OTHER PRODUCT TYPES HAVE SEEN RECENT INNOVATION THAT IS HELPING RESIDENTIAL SUDS PROJECTS ACHIEVE SUCCESS? Taylor: here hae een deelopments across a numer of product categories. With modular attenuation systems,


for eample, manufacturers hae een increasing the oid ratio of some products, allowing them to hold more water within the same oerall olume. hat can help reduce the footprint of a tank. Were also seeing more use of rain gardens and planters at indiidual properties, permeale paing and tree pits. here are deelopments in crate systems too, including shallower options that can proide greater fl eiility where depth is restricted.


he important thing is that deelopers and engineers dont necessarily hae to accept the fi rst solution presented to them. here may e another product or approach that reduces the footprint, eliminates the need for additional tans or maes the installation easier.


WHAT IS THE EXPERTISE THAT BURDENS CAN BRING TO PROJECTS TO ASSIST SPECIFIERS IN SAVING ‘TIME, CASH & CARBON’? Graham: ur role is to ring together technical, logistical and product nowledge to help contractors fi nd the right solution for the scheme. Were not simply there to sell a particular product. Sometimes the right solution may actually mean we sell less, ut if its the right solution for the customer and the proect, thats what we should e doing. Wee seen proects where changing the design has dramatically reduced the numer of delieries reuired, while also reducing cost and caron. n one eample, a design change reduced the numer of wagon moements from around  to around  while achieing the same oerall solution.


hats the alue of looing at the whole proect rather than simply pricing whats on a drawing. ndrew and ar can loo at a design and as whether theres a different way of achieing the same outcome, whether the footprint can e reduced, whether installation can e simplifi ed or whether the amount of material and site moements can e reduced. Were effectiely acting as the lin etween the deeloper, contractor and manufacturer, ringing those different areas of epertise together. ltimately, its aout understanding what the customer is trying to achiee and fi nding a solution that wors technically, commercially and practically.


o listen to a


podcast where you can hear more of what urdens hae to say on SuS, scan the  code.


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