Realising the benefits

Unlike traditional solutions, SuDS manage runoff on the surface, often using multifunctional space. This means that they will be visible to the local community during dry conditions, and also during both everyday and extreme rainfall events. Urban SuDS

The best benefits can be achieved when SuDS are integrated into the urban fabric. As well as managing flood risk, water quality can be improved and a better urban landscape created. This helps to create better places to live.

A feature of retrofitting landscaped (or “green”) SuDS is the introduction of more vegetation and trees into the urban landscape. Green features can help break down the harder appearance of constructed surfaces or unused green space and create more pleasant places to live, work and play. Trees and vegetation can also help to define the scale of a space, making large, unfriendly spaces smaller in parts, which are more conductive to a wider range of human activities.

Even retrofitting a small number of green measures can improve the amenity and biodiversity of an area through the creation of new habitats. Creating interconnecting green and blue corridors can also provide routes above ground for extreme or exceedance flows to pass through causing a minimum amount of damage.