Stortford Fields is a large-scale, mixed-use development located on the northern fringes of Bishop’s Stortford, on the Hertfordshire and Essex border. On completion in 2027, the development will comprise approximately 2,200 new homes, a primary school with nursery, the relocation of an existing oversubscribed secondary school, a care home, 1,000m² of retail space, and a four-to-five-hectare business park expected to generate around 500 new jobs.

Approximately 58 hectares of green open space - around 45% of the total site area - are integral to the development’s design, incorporating existing mature trees and hedgerows alongside new footpaths, cycling routes, bridleways, children’s play areas and allotments. Public open spaces are managed by The Land Trust, a national non-profit organisation committed to the long-term sustainable management of community green space.

Challenges

A pre-existing watercourse running through the site, provided a natural drainage feature around which the development layout was structured. The drainage strategy was designed to improve both water levels and water quality within the watercourse, while also creating new riparian habitat such as reedbeds and increasing plant diversity through a 2,250-metre-long green corridor.

Solutions

SDS GEOlight® Geocellular Attenuation Tanks

SDS Infrastructure supplied and installed its GEOlight® geocellular attenuation tanks, which were positioned beneath the development’s full-size football pitch and adjoining junior pitch.

Record-breaking capacity

The installed SDS GEOlight® attenuation system has a total capacity of 8,000m³ - 8 million litres of water. This makes it the single largest surface water storage facility of its type ever installed in the United Kingdom. The system is designed to capture and retain surface water running off the impermeable surfaces created by the first phase of development, even during peak rainfall events.

Logistics and coordination

The scale of the installation demanded careful planning and coordination across an extended programme. SDS was required to manage and align delivery schedules with multiple suppliers and to adapt to the variable progression of groundworks across the site. The installation was completed over the course of several weeks, requiring flexibility and close collaboration with the principal contractor, Breheny Civil Engineering.

Client 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