OVERVIEW

Key requirements for this development are the provision of circa 58 hectares of green open space and the adoption of, as well as addition to, existing mature trees and hedgerows, as part of a drive to improve the overall diversity of the site. There will be play areas for children and allotments, new footpaths, cycling routes and bridle ways created.

The first of three major phases comprised 857 homes, a school, neighbourhood centre and sports pavilion.

WHAT WE DID

SDS GEOlight® attenuation tanks were installed in May 2018 and sit beneath the schools’ full-size football pitch and adjoining junior pitch, which have been designed to provide additional stormwater storage capacity when required. Representing the single largest surface water storage facility yet installed in the UK, the tanks have the capacity to store up to 8,000m³, or eight million litres, of water.

The pre-existing watercourse, in effect an agricultural ditch which runs through the site, provides a natural feature by which the layout of the development is structured, in order to maximise drainage, recreation and biodiversity benefits within an enhanced, 2,250-metre-long green corridor.

A site-wide sustainable drainage scheme linked to the watercourse will improve water levels and water quality in the watercourse. It will also provide a new riparian habitat which includes reed beds and increased plant diversity.

RESULTS

The huge scale of this development demanded that the installation was completed over the course of a number of weeks, requiring SDS to co-ordinate with the different delivery schedules of multiple suppliers to site and the variable progression of associated groundworks.

Ownership and maintenance of the public open spaces will be managed by The Land Trust, a national non-profit organisation committed to the long-term sustainable management of open space for community benefit.