REVISIONS to the CIRIA SuDS Manual, the so-called UK ‘bible’ for Sustainable Drainage System design and delivery, have been welcomed by industry experts for heralding a more pragmatic approach that could help get more schemes delivered.
Mark Goodger, Stormwater Regional Technical Manager for Hydro International, said: “The update is a significant step forward, particularly in the way it has realigned the use of proprietary treatment devices as a fully-legitimate member of the SuDS component toolbox. In the 2007 edition, manufactured treatment devices that remove pollutants through processes such as hydrodynamic vortex separation were classed only for use in ‘pre-treatment’; this distinction led to restrictions in the way they could be applied in schemes across the country.
“This first major upgrade to the manual was widely welcomed by the industry, bringing seven years of surface water management theory and practice right up to date.
“Precision-engineered solutions are not the enemies of Green Infrastructure, they can enable it. The more balanced, pragmatic approach represented in C753 recognises the valuable contribution that manufactured devices make, helping to bring about a ‘can do’ approach to getting SuDS schemes built. In particular manufactured devices can help to define and implement more predictable maintenance and service approaches for SuDS that can facilitate adoption and ownership; issues that have been a barrier to progress. “Just as important is the need to change perceptions that land-take and construction cost limitations stand in the way of delivering effective schemes. By creating precision-engineered solutions using a range of components, developers can achieve the best of both worlds, retaining valuable space for building and still engineering drainage pathways that work as nature intended. It can be done.
