Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS)

Get a quote
Suds - Surface Water Drainage Strategy

Achieve Your Development Goals with a Comprehensive SuDS Report

When embarking on a new development project, a Sustainable Urban Drainage Strategy (SuDS) Report is not just another box to tick. It’s an essential component that can ensure the success and sustainability of your development. Here’s when you might need our expertise in crafting a SuDS report:

  • Your development area houses more than 10 dwellings or exceeds 1ha.
  • The floor space of your project surpasses 1000m2.
  • You’re planning a minor development in an area prone to flooding or with existing critical drainage issues.
  • Your project increases impermeable areas, raising concerns about the cumulative impact of extensions.

As urban planners and developers, it’s increasingly crucial for you to demonstrate your commitment to managing surface water drainage. Local Planning Authorities, the Lead Local Flood Authority, and the Environment Agency are all watching – we help you show them you’ve got it covered.

What Our SuDS Report Offers

Our comprehensive SuDS report provides you with:

  • Detailed descriptions of the site’s existing and proposed drainage arrangements.
  • Accurate calculations of surface water runoff, using industry-standard software.
  • Thorough assessments of SuDS options, recommending suitable elements like soakaways, ponds, attenuation tanks, and rainwater harvesting to meet your site’s runoff rate requirements.
  • A document that can stand alone or integrate seamlessly into your site’s Flood Risk Assessment report.

Every development project is unique, and so is every SuDS report. Trust us to provide the specialised attention and expertise your project deserves.

how it works

01

Preliminary Drainage Design

We understand the importance of the initial stages of planning a development. That’s why we offer a preliminary drainage design to support outline planning applications and, in some cases, detailed planning applications. Our preliminary report, designed to facilitate your discussions with regulators, details potential infiltration issues and provides surface water runoff volumes and flows.

02

Surface Water Drainage Strategy

Our team explores how surface water runoff from your site can be managed to comply with various regulations and policies. Whether your site is a greenfield or a brownfield, we consider all necessary factors to propose a strategy that utilizes existing resources and ensures the sustainability of your development.

03

Detailed Drainage Design

Sometimes, a surface water drainage strategy may not be enough. When a detailed drainage system design is required—be it due to the size and nature of the development, local planning policy, or the views of the Lead Local Flood Authority—we’ve got you covered. Our detailed design includes drainage layouts, construction details, and connections to existing systems, ensuring you meet all planning conditions.

Need quality drainage services? We have got you covered

Call us now for an enquiry. Clever Works – Drain Surveys, Strategies, Design & Site Investigation

01932 961 864

Frequently Asked Questions

cctv drain survey

What are Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)?

SuDs (Sustainable Drainage Systems) reduce the impact of new and existing developments with respect to water in both rural and urban areas by replicated natural systems. They are more cost effective than traditional drainage systems and have a very low environmental impact. This mirror the flow characteristics of the site prior to development.

cctv drain survey

What is the difference to a traditional drainage system?

Capacity. With combined systems, when flash flooding happens, the foul drainage over flows and splis out of the drainage network, causing contaminated flooding to people and property. Nowadays, it’s more common to have separate foul and surface water drainage networks.
By the same principle, storm water drainage systems have a limited capacity to accept extreme flows, be it from residential use or rainfall. When this capacity is exceeded, flooding occurs.
SuDS aims to mitigate this aspect and eliminated the pipework from the progress of running the water back into the ground.

cctv drain survey

Why does my Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) require SuDS ?

A detailed drainage design is often required due to local planning policy as well as the view of the specific Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA). They can determine drainage as a critical issue in your area, and make a SuDS report a requirement of planning. The level of detail required can vary for each LLFA, some are happy with a basic SuDS report that provides an outline of SuDS strategy in writing, supported by hydraulic calculations and a desktop infiltration study. Some LLFAs will also request a full drainage strategy to include an outline foul drainage strategy also.

cctv drain survey

What are the types of SuDS ?

There are a variety of different SuDS options that are available to developers which all have different uses, as well as different locations in relation to the development or typical rainfall landing area.

There are 3 main categories of SuDS : source control, site control, and regional control.

  • Detention basins – A depression covered with vegetation to hold rainfall and slowly drain it.
  • Retention ponds – A larger depression which stores water, even during dry conditions.
  • Wetlands – A vegetative area with shallow ponds and marshland.
  • Swale
  • Permeable paving
  • Filter drains