SuDS pilot in Greater Manchester Schools

1. General information

Location and description of the intervention

City or FUA

Greater Manchester

Region

Europe

Native title of the NBS intervention

SuDS pilot in Greater Manchester Schools

Short description of the intervention

The project aimed to test the potential to use existing surface water drainage charge mechanisms to incentivize increased implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SuDS) to improve flood resilience and improve water quality in the city of Manchester (ref 1). Working with partners from The Water Taskforce, and funded by the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK Env agency), BITC (Business in the Community) and CLASP, these partners have been testing the concept that implementing SuDS on a school site could generate savings for a school, by reducing their hard-standing area and so their charges from their water supplier. Working with two schools in Manchester, the project team carried out detailed audits and SuDS interventions were identified that could divert or slow the flow of water into the sewer system, or reduce the amount of chargeable hard-standing area. Using this information, a trial version of a simple, user-friendly tool has been developed to help schools identify if there may be a cost-effective way to drop a chargeable surface water band (ref. 2).

Address

Burnage Ln,
Manchester M19 1FG, UK
Greater Manchester
M19 1FG
United Kingdom

Location

The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city

Type of area before implementation of the NBS

Other

Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS

School (Burnage Academy for Boys)
Chorlton High School
(ref. 2)

Website of the intervention

http://claspinfo.org/schools-suds-phase1

Timeline of intervention

Start date of the intervention (planning process)

2016

Start date of intervention (implementation process)

2016

End date of the intervention

2016

Present stage of the intervention

Completed

2. Objectives of the intervention

Goals of the intervention

The project aimed to:
1. Develop a model to test the potential to use existing surface water drainage charge mechanisms to incentivise increased implementation of (SuDS) as a means to improve flood resilience and improve water quality, using Manchester as a pilot location.
2. Explore the potential to create economic opportunities through implementing and maintaining SuDS.
3. Model a school SuDS retrofit
4. To understand financial and operational viability as well as economic/social and environmental benefits at a catchment scale.
5. Raise awareness of the challenges/opportunities within the business community.
(ref 1)

Quantitative targets

If they could all move down one charging band, this could save over £2m which could be reinvested for SuDS measures. (ref 1)
1. 2 models were developed to assess the opportunity
2. 2 pilot studies in schools (Ref 1)

Monitoring indicators defined

1. annual cost saving
2. the amount of chargeable hard standing area
3. rate of flow of water into the sewer system
(ref 3)
amount of money saved in £ per year in surface water charges (ref 1)

Sustainability challenge(s) addressed

Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)

Climate change adaptation

Water management (SDG 6)

Flood protection

Stormwater and rainfall management and storage

Improvements to water quality

Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)

Green space creation and/or management

Economic development and employment (SDG 8)

Economic development: service sectors

Climate change adaptation: What were the goals of the NBS?

Reduce exposure to climate risks directly

Reduce the impacts of climate risks events on urban places and communities

Build resilience

Climate change adaptation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?

Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature

Implement sustainable urban drainage infrastructure (e.g. to make space for water)

Please specify "other Type of NBS project"

test the implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SuDS) to improve flood resilience and improve water quality in Manchester (ref 1)

Implementation activities

1. Two models were developed to assess the opportunity at both the site level and strategic programme level.
2. The outline economic opportunities have been included in the area model.
3. Two schools were engaged through this project where the project developed and carried out a SuDS audit (ref 2)
4. Diversion of water from playground into linear green space to create a wetland and plant additional vegetation to slow down runoff (ref. 5)

Type of NBS project

Creation of semi-natural blue areas

Other

3. NBS domains, ES and scale

NBS domain and interventions

Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented

Green areas for water management

Sustainable urban drainage systems

What is the level of innovation / development of the NBS related to water management?

Medium / High: sustainable urban drainage systems which include water storage and diverts water flooding

Vegetation Type

Other

Please specify other amenities offered by the NBS

walking pavements, picnic tables (ref 5)

Amenities offered by the NBS

Other

Services

Expected ecosystem services delivered

Regulating services

Flood regulation

Water purification / filtration

Scale

Spatial scale

Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level

Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)

Beneficiaries

Primary Beneficiaries

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private sector/Corporate/Company

Citizens or community groups

Young people and children

4. Governance and financing

Governance

Governance arrangements

Led by non-government actors

Non-government actors

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private sector/Corporate/Business

Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative

Led by BITC (BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY) partners from The Water Taskforce, and funded by funded jointly by Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK Env agency), BITC (Business in the Community) and CLASP (ref 2) - CLASP is the local area sustainability support service. A not-for-profit service, providing free support for public sector organizations and their partners, on dealing with the challenges of environmental resilience, reducing energy use, and renewable energy planning issues.

Key actors - initiating organization

Business association or network

Please specify other Key actors - Other stakeholders involved

Greater Manchester schools (Ref 1) ; partners from The Water Taskforce (Ref 2)

Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)

National government

Public sector institution

Business association or network

Private sector/corporate actor/company

Citizens or community group

Other

Land owners

Public space owned by the city

Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used

Unknown

Policy drivers

NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy

Unknown

NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan

Unknown

NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan

Unknown

Mandatory or voluntary intervention

Voluntary (spontaneous)

Enablers

Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project

Unknown

Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project

Yes

Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section

the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 requires Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to adopt and maintain approved SuDS in the UK (source: UK government website)

If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.

Water regulation strategy

Please specify other vegetation type

Vegetation (ref. 5)

Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project

Yes

Please specify

Project designed to develop a model to test the potential to use existing surface water drainage charge mechanisms to incentivise increased implementation of (SuDS) as a means to improve flood resilience and improve water quality, using Manchester as a pilot location. (Ref 1 )

Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project

Unknown

Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project

Unknown

Co-finance for NBS

Unknown

Co-financing governance arrangements

Yes

Co-governance arrangement

Other

Please specify other co-financing type

funded jointly by Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, UK Env agency), BITC (Business in the Community) and CLASP (ref 2)

Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?

Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?

this is a pilot study hence no costs were mentioned as the aim is to produce information.

What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?

Unknown

What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?

Unknown

Please specify cost savings

(ref 1). :Across the pilot area, Greater Manchester, there are currently over 1,000 schools paying together over £4.3m in surface water charges to United Utilities per year. If they could all move down one charging band, this could save over £2m which could be reinvested to cover the costs of SuDS measures in the short-term and educational benefits in the medium term.

Please specify total cost (EUR)

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

Public national budget

Corporate investment

Type of fund(s) used

Unknown

Non-financial contribution

Yes

Type of non-financial contribution

Provision of land

Who provided the non-financial contribution?

Other

Business models

Risk reduction model

Green densification model

Urban offsetting model (biodiversity or water)

Please specify other environmental impact

produced an environmental monitoring tool: 1• Built an audit tool and ‘ready reckoner’ to calculate costs, savings and payback periods at a single school level (Ref 4); 1. Developed a model to test the potential to use existing surface water drainage charge mechanisms to incentivise increased implementation of (SuDS) as a means to improve flood resilience and improve water quality, using Manchester as a pilot location. (Ref 1)

Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?

Public actor (e.g. municipality)

Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)

5. Innovation

Type of innovation

Technological

Infrastructural innovation

Social

Economic innovation

Please specify technological innovation

SuDS interventions on site for schools for cost saving and other environmental benefits (Ref 1)

Novelty level of the innovation

The innovation is completely new without connections to previous initiative(s)

Please specify novelty level of the innovation

1. Developed a model to test the potential to use existing surface water drainage charge mechanisms to incentivise increased implementation of (SuDS) as a means to improve flood resilience and improve water quality, using Manchester as a pilot location. (Ref 1)

Replicability/Transferability

The innovation is transferred to new initiative(s) with substantial adaptation

Please specify Replicability/Transferability

This project comprises of 2 pilot study sites to serve as examples for the future initiatives.(Reference 4) They are securing funding and support to extend the pilot to work with multiple schools (and/or other public/private sector estate) to test the model in practice (Ref 4).

6. Evaluation and learning

Impacts, benefits

Environmental impacts

Climate change

Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters

Water management and blue areas

Improved water quality

Improved stormwater management

Green space and habitat

Increased green space area

Other

Please specify other economic impact

reduced financial costs for water management- at a programme level, 249 schools and NHS sites could make combined savings of over £300,000 per year, seeing a return on investment in SuDS within 5 years (ref 1).; •2 Created an economic model with data aggregated for all schools in Greater Manchester to look at the potential for a programme (Ref 4); Raised awareness of the challenges/opportunities within the business community to derive benefits and push for SuDS. (ref 1)

Description of environmental benefits

1. excess water flowing into gardens behind (green space creation) (ref 5)
2. infiltration of rainwater (ref 5)
3. Rainwater drainage (ref 5)

1• Built an audit tool and ‘ready reckoner’ to calculate costs, savings and payback periods at a single school level (Ref 4)
By extending the return period to 15 years, 598 sites could invest in SuDS, saving over £800,000 per year, creating over 300,000m2 of green and blue space and delivering over £83million worth of social and environmental benefits. (Ref 7)

Developed a model to test the potential to use existing surface water drainage charge mechanisms to incentivise increased implementation of (SuDS) as a means to improve flood resilience and improve water quality, using Manchester as a pilot location. (Ref 1)

Economic impacts

Other

Please specify other socio-cultural impact

Engaged both the public and private sector. (Ref 4)

Description of economic benefits

£2m could be saved with this kind of projects (ref 1); reduced financial costs for water management- at a programme level, 249 schools and NHS sites could make combined savings of over £300,000 per year, seeing a return on investment in SuDS within 5 years (ref 1).

5. cost savings were identified (Ref 4) Possible annual cost saving of £15,594.49. at Burnage Academy for Boys (ref5)

•2 Created an economic model with data aggregated for all schools in Greater Manchester to look at the potential for a programme (Ref 4)

By extending the return period to 15 years, 598 sites could invest in SuDS, saving over £800,000 per year, creating over 300,000m2 of green and blue space and delivering over £83million worth of social and environmental benefits. (Ref 7)

Raised awareness of the challenges/opportunities within the business community to derive benefits and push for SuDS. (ref 1)

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts

Achieved impacts

Indicators

By extending the return period to 15 years, 598 sites could invest in SuDS, saving over £800,000 per year, creating over 300,000m2 of green and blue space and delivering over £83million worth of social and environmental benefits. (Ref 7)
The project:
1• Built an audit tool and ‘ready reckoner’ to calculate costs, savings and payback periods at a single school level (Ref 4)
•2 Created an economic model with data aggregated for all schools in Greater Manchester to look at the potential for a programme (Ref 4)
•3 Developed a lesson plan, case studies and scoped the potential for employee volunteering for any future projects (Ref 4)
•4 Developed and carried out a SuDS audit at 2 schools (Ref 4)
5. cost savings were identified (Ref 4) Possible annual cost saving of £15,594.49. at Burnage Academy for Boys (ref5)
6. Engaged both the public and private sector. (Ref 4)

projected reduced financial costs for water management- at a programme level, 249 schools and NHS sites could make combined savings of over £300,000 per year, seeing a return on investment in SuDS within 5 years (ref 1).

Environmental, social and economic impacts

Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)

Climate change adaptation

Water management (SDG 6)

Stormwater and rainfall management and storage

Improvements to water quality

Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)

Green space creation and/or management

Regeneration, land-use and urban development

Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development

Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)

Social interaction

Analysis of specific impact categories

Job creation: The NBS created ...

Voluntary work opportunities

Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...

Improved access to green and/or blue spaces

Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?

No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project

COVID-19 pandemic

This project data was updated on 25 July 2020. Although the project implementation was not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Burnage Academy for Boys as per the decision of the government , the school is now closed until further notice (https://burnage.manchester.sch.uk/) and Chorlton High School is also organizing events online due to lock down (https://www.chorltonhigh.manchester.sch.uk/news/2020-05-17-rockthelockdown-special-event-with-lempen-puppet-theatre-co-20th-may-2020)

Methods of impact monitoring

Process of recording NBS impacts

Conduct a baseline survey before and after NBS implementation

Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS

Measurements of biophysical aspects of the NBS (e.g. temperature, water flow)

Where can this data be accessed? Please include a link to a report or web-page.

http://media.claspinfo.org/sites/default/files/Case%20Study%20-%20Chorlton.pdf

Evidence for use of assessment

Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports

Yes

Link to monitoring/evaluation reports

http://media.claspinfo.org/sites/default/files/Case%20Study%20-%20Chorlton.pdf

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

Impact assessment mechanism

Name of any specific impact assessment tools

unknown

Use of GIS in mapping impacts

No evidence in public records

Citizen involvement

Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation

Unknown

Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation

Unknown

Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment

Unknown

7. Sources

References

Web links relevant to the intervention

CLASP webpage

Documents relevant to the intervention

Attachment	Size
BITC report (1.71 MB)	1.71 MB

List of references

1. Business in the Community (BITC). (2016). Water resilient cities: building resilience and saving money through better surface water management. Urbanwater-eco.services. Available at: http://urbanwater-eco.services/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/BITC-Water-Resilient-Cities-Feasibility-Study-FINAL.pdf (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
2. CLASP. (n.d). Schools SUDS - Potential to Reduce Surface Water Charges. Claspinfo. Available at: http://claspinfo.org/schools-suds-phase1 (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
3. CLASP. (n.d). SUDS in Schools - the Benefits Revealed. Claspinfo. Available at: http://claspinfo.net/news/suds-schools-benefits-revealed (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
4. Business in the Community (BITC). (2016). Case Study: Burnage Academy for Boys. Claspinfo. Available at: http://media.claspinfo.org/sites/default/files/Case%20Study%20-%20Burnage.pdf (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
5. BITC. (2016). Case Study: Chorlton High School. Claspinfo. Available at: http://media.claspinfo.org/sites/default/files/Case%20Study%20-%20Chorlton.pdf (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
6. Business in the Community. (2017). Water Resilient Cities. WWT. Available at: https://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/other-guidance/bitc_multiple_benefits_of_suds_in_schools_2017.pdf (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
7. Natural Course. (2018). Pioneering green drainage scheme could save Manchester millions. Natural Course. Available at: https://naturalcourse.co.uk/2018/05/11/pioneering-green-drainage-scheme-could-save-manchester-millions/ (Accessed: 18 July 2020)

Comments and notes

Comments

1. section 3/services: represent the common services of SuDS schemes

Additional insights

Section 1. CLASP is the local area sustainability support service. A not-for-profit service, providing free support for public sector organisations and their partners, on dealing with the challenges of environmental resilience, reducing energy use, and renewable energy planning issues.

Pictures of the NBS

/sites/default/files/nbs/images/NBS%20Intervention.jpg

Please specify other source of non-financial contribution

schools (engagement of the pilot schools) (ref. 1)