Flood Risk and Drainage - Concept Drainage Design including SuDS

In line with the National Planning Policy Framework, our drainage strategies are based on Sustainable Drainage Systems i.e. a natural approach to managing drainage, which works by slowing runoff from the site. Our design of SuDS often brings benefits to other disciplines, by ensuring additional value is generated in terms of bio-diversity, recreation and water quality.

M-EC supports developers and contractors in preparing drainage strategies to manage the excess runoff arising from new developments, preparing them to achieve the best possible outcome at the planning stage whilst providing the most cost-effective, workable solution for the client. 

Our designs follow the most up-to-date methodologies in the industry, thus ensuring the footprint of SuDS is compatible with the requirements of the development. The Long-Term Storage approach decreases the attenuation requirements compared to a traditional Qbar approach while ensuring flood risk is not exacerbated as a result of the development.

The team also has access to the most advanced tools in the market to model complex drainage networks, including bespoke water management features tailored for each development in specific. These tools include QGIS, AutoCAD 2D/3D, MicroDrainage and PDS Causeway.

With the benefit of a multi-disciplinary team it enables close cooperation between the Flood Risk and the Geo-Environmental teams. In advance of drainage strategies, the Geo-Environmental team often provides desk studies of the local geology and site-specific ground investigations to support groundwater assessment and infiltration testing.

Conceptual drainage strategies often evolve into detailed designs undertaken by our Civils team. This part of the work includes detailing any drainage-related features, preparation of cut-and-fill analysis and structural design of retaining features, amongst others.