ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS


Is attenuation the answer to rising flood risks?


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Andrew Taylor, technical sales manager at Burdens’ Water Management Solutions, discusses the best practice in flood management and the positive impact of attenuation


round five million people in England and Wales currently live in flood-risk areas, with one in six homes in England being at risk. This statistic is made even more alarming


by the fact that the annual flood damage costs are now in the region of £1.1 billion across England.


It’s no surprise that the sharp rise has coincided with the increasing threat of climate change, and with the government pledge for more new homes, it poses a challenge to builders and developers: how do they handle flood risks? That’s where flood management and the control of stormwater need to be considered.


Managing stormwater


Creating a surface water management system design can often be a complex task, and success is often reached when the right combination of products and processes are blended. Central to this system design is making sure the solutions align to the entire surface water management cycle, from the point where rain lands right through to where it re-enters the natural environment. Attenuation is an effective solution that can be installed seamlessly within the built environment.


What is attenuation?


This is the process of holding back peak drainage flow from a location during storm conditions. The principle is to store the water for a duration of time before releasing it back to drainage systems at a slower, controlled rate. There are a variety of options available on how to form this structure; however, several things must be taken into consideration before these are designed. These include ground conditions, storage requirements, loading


Aco – StormBrixx is a patented plastic Geocellular stormwater management system ability for


capabilities, accessibility requirements for maintenance or jetting, and whether it is to be adopted by the local water authority.


How important is attenuation?


As development and infrastructure remove natural water-permeable land and exchange it for new developments impermeable to water, this creates much faster surface water run-off, putting pressure on water courses. This results in downstream flooding, pollution, and damage to the environment.


Attenuation tanks can combat this issue whilst providing a high storage volume. Unlike structures filled with aggregates, attenuation tanks offer the flexibility to be installed below roads, car parks, residential areas, and open public/recreational spaces. One of the systems Burdens currently uses is Geocellular storage systems, more commonly referred to as crates. They are light modular plastic units that can be used efficiently for attenuation. The storage structure is formed by assembling the required number of individual units and wrapping them in a geomembrane and/or geotextile protection fleece. Plastic Geocellular systems are a widely accepted method of creating attenuation systems throughout the UK. They have been installed in a variety of applications for several years from landscaped and pedestrian areas, up to light and heavy-duty trafficked areas. A recent success story of the Geocellular storage systems is with Lovell Homes at their Drummond Park site in Wiltshire. For this, the Burdens team proposed the ACO StormBrixx SD system — a patented plastic Geocellular stormwater management system with compact stacking ability for easier logistics. The tank is designed for where installation depth and access requirements are vital to the project. Not only did this tank save the site money and space but it also had a host of sustainable benefits. Thanks to the ACO StormBrixx SD system, the team were able to:


• Reduce the number of artic lorries loads to the site from thirty-two to nine


• Reduce 17 hours of forklift truck unloading time


• Save five days’ worth of deliveries • Reduce storage on-site by 60%


The team at Burdens work closely with customers through the entire process to ensure accurate and cost-effective product selection is made, and correct installation and maintenance are achieved. Through developments such as the ACO


StormBrixx SD system, as the need for new developments and housing further increases, Burdens is helping the construction industry combat climate change one step at a time, helping to reduce the number of homes affected by flooding across the UK.


20 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER DECEMBER 2022


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