Architects Datafile - 02.2020

BRIDGET JOYCE SQUARE
‘Winner of Winners’ at the 2017 Landscape
Institute Awards, this community-driven SuDS
landscape in White City, west London was
designed by Robert Bray Associates. It makes use
of concrete block paving, removing rainwater
straight from the surface without gulleys, providing
attenuation and treatment, then discharging into
planted basins.
(Image courtesy Robert Bray Associates)

Of course, all developments need paving,

whether for pedestrians, vehicles or other

uses. CBPP simply combines well-drained,

safe and attractive surfaces for a wide

range of applications with attenuation,

storage, treatment and conveyance of

rainwater – by its very nature requiring no

additional land-take. Fundamentally, CBPP

captures the rainwater that falls upon it

(which is immediately removed from the

surface) and can also handle runoff from

roofs and other impermeable surfaces.

CBPP attenuates and treats this water

before infiltrating gradually into the ground

or, where ground conditions preclude

complete infiltration, discharges a delayed,

gradual flow of clean water, either at the

head of a SuDS management train or to a

conventional drain system or watercourse,

so improving water quality and reducing

downstream flooding. CBPP is therefore an

essential part of any development,

irrespective of the drainage regime.

Defining urban character

Of course, paved surfaces help to define the

character of any development. The growing

choice of CBPP products available from

Interpave manufacturers – with numerous

shapes, styles, finishes and colours – allows

real design freedom. At the same time,

CBPP can provide a completely level, well-

drained, firm and slip-resistance surface

accessible to all, without the need for cross-

falls, channels, gulleys or other

interruptions. Rainwater ‘ponding’ is

eliminated, reducing the risk of ice forming

on the surface and preventing splashing

from standing water.

As a result of its unique capabilities,

CBPP offers designers the exciting potential

of a gradual supply of treated water for

safe, open SuDS features downstream. This

can be integrated with landscape design

and promotes biodiversity. The challenge

for architects is to fully integrate SuDS and

CBPP into their schemes from the very

start. As the RIBA’s 2014 report ‘Building a

Better Britain’ pointed out: “For too long,

we have been designing water out of our

towns and cities when we should have been

designing it in,” and stresses the need to:

“start putting water at the heart of

discussions about what makes places great

to live in.”

Chris Hodson is architect and consultant

at Interpave

116LANDSCAPING & EXTERNAL WORKS

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