It’s no question that an ever increasing number of extreme rainfall events are causing havoc with our infrastructure. Drainage isn’t coping with the heavy downpours, storm overflows are needed more than ever before, and flood resilience is becoming a priority even in communities that haven’t historically needed to worry about flood risks.
One of the most at-risk communities (as identified by Severn Trent Water) is the town of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, where almost 1,000 people are living in homes class as being at high risk of flooding.
Severn Trent are investing £76 million into the Mansfield Sustainable Flood Resilience project, working with Mansfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council to combat flood risk.
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The aim of the project is to create additional storage capacity for surface water, creating resilience in the network to meet the catchment’s future estimated need. The planned blue-green infrastructure will slow the flow using methods such as:
- Detention basins: like bioswales but usually in larger green areas such as parks.
- Bioswales: sunken channels adjacent to roads to capture surface runoff.
- Rain gardens: small gardens, often on the corner of a pavement and road, with layers of permeable materials.
- Tree pits: grids below the roots that capture and slow the rainwater.
- Permeable paving: used on hard surfaces with gaps that allow water to filter through.
Phase one of the scheme is already complete and proving it’s worth, after successfully demonstrating huge benefit during the 2023/4 storms. Phase two is well underway, with AECOM and Galliford Try delivering the project in the east, and Arup and Kier in the west, alongside CPC Civils building the detention basins.
With the recent UK Government announcement that SuDS will be a requirement for all new housing developments, Mansfield is an excellent example of how blue-green infrastructure will increase resilience against floods.