Context

Stortford Fields is a mixed-use development site on the Hertfordshire / Essex border. Due for completion in 2027, it will consist of around 2200 new homes, a primary school, secondary school, nursery, care home, business park and retail complex.

Challenge

The existing watercourse on the site provided a natural feature around which the development is structured in order to maximise drainage, recreation and biodiversity. A site-wide sustainable drainage scheme linked to the watercourse was required to improve water levels and water quality in the watercourse, as well as to provide new riparian habitat such as reedbeds and increased plant diversity.

Solution

SDS GEOlight® attenuation tanks were used for this project, and represent the single largest surface water storage facility yet installed in the UK. The tanks have a capacity to store up to 8000m3 - or 8 million litres - of water.

Testimonial

“Due to its sheer size alone the Stortford Fields development provides us with a whole set of new challenges. Planning over the extended timeframe that the project demands adds new complexities to items such as the scheduling of materials deliveries, groundworks and installations. It is vital, therefore, that the specialist suppliers and subcontractors in whom we place our trust deliver not only to the highest standards that we expect but are sufficiently flexible to respond positively and adjust whenever a change to the plan is required. In SDS we have a partner on whose unerring capacity to deliver we can always rely.”
– Steve Pallister, Project Manager, Breheny Civil Engineering