Greener Towns and Cities: Highlights from Natural England
Natural England’s recent webinar focused on the growing importance of green infrastructure (GI) in urban areas, highlighting new tools and policies to integrate nature into urban planning. Here’s a summary of the insights shared by leading experts. Alan Law, Chief Officer for Strategy, Natural England Alan Law discussed the government’s focus on balancing economic growth, […]
Open Planting Areas for Urban Trees: Not What They Seem?
While soil cells are most often installed under pavement when there’s a lack of green space, we’ve lately seen an uptick in projects specifying soil cells under grassy areas as well. Leading to the question, are there advantages to using soil cells under open planting areas? Historically speaking, open planting areas have been regarded as […]
Are We Providing Mature Street Trees for Future Generations?
The canopy cover of many cities across the US and around the world is made up of large, mature trees. In the US, most of these trees were planted in the late 1800s to early 1900s, making them well over 100 years old. Thankfully, our grandparents and great grandparents understood the value of trees and […]
Greening Our School Infrastructure
The School Rebuilding Programme in 2021 was a government initiative pledging £1bn to rebuild schools. Over 500 schools will benefit from a rebuild or refresh to improve classroom capacities with additional guidance from local authorities to support in and out of the classroom. The mission for education: for 90% of pupils to achieve the expected […]
Is SuDS now becoming mainstream?
Over recent years, the scandal of our sewage-polluted watercourses and seas in the UK has received widespread publicity. The public is rightly horrified that most of our British watercourses are not fit for swimming in and that untreated sewage spills have occurred so often—but not all of us are aware that we can be contributing […]
Unlocking the Full Potential of SUDS
As the demand for sustainable urban development grows, innovative solutions like Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) become increasingly critical. GreenBlue Urban is at the forefront of this movement, offering a comprehensive suite of tools, resources, and expertise to support the design and implementation of effective SuDS. Whether you’re an engineer, developer, landscape architect, or local authority, […]
Simplifying SuDS for All!
Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are a set of design principles and practices that aim to manage and control surface water runoff in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. SuDS are designed to mimic natural drainage processes and reduce the impact of urbanisation on the water cycle. They provide an alternative to traditional drainage systems that […]
Event: Our Future Landscapes: Integrating BNG & SuDS
As Climate Change accelerates and industry standards advance, our event at Barcham Nursery on Thursday, July 4th, 2024, brought together professionals from various fields to explore the integration of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) into future landscapes. Attendees gained valuable insights from experts, shared best practices, and participated in collaborative discussions […]
Using Sustainable Drainage Systems to add Value to Development Projects
Using Sustainable Drainage features requires developers, designers, and planners to adopt a new way of thinking, which can cause some resistance. However, Sustainable Drainage is not very far removed from existing civil engineering principles when you seriously consider it. What does civil engineering do? It provides answers to problems. In this case, the problem is […]