The North West Cambridge development will see 1,500,000 square meters of land transform into a mixed academic-urban community that will provide muchneeded housing. The site has required innovative solutions in water management and sustainable landscape architecture.
A pioneering water management strategy was developed to capture, store and naturally treat stormwater runoff, through an integrated network of sustainable drainage, using rainwater harvesting and grey-water recycling technologies, reducing demand for potable water.
Rainfall will discharge from each plot into a site-wide rainwater recycling network. It will pass through swales before being intercepted, treated and returned to each plot as non-potable water.
The non-potable water can provide approximately one third of a person’s daily water use through flushing toilets, washing machines and garden irrigation. The first SuDS scheme of its type in the UK and one of the largest in Europe, the scheme has brought together significant wildlife, ecology and amenity benefits to the area, simultaneously assisting flood mitigation and environmental improvements. Development of surface and foul water drainage designs have utilized new technologies such as the MX / Microdrainage interface, enabling our team to integrate outfalls and rationalize pumping stations, mitigating the site’s inherent flood challenges.
Additionally, the western edge of the development, created from surplus material, has numerous functions as a noise and visual barrier. It also provides habitats for wildlife and space for water conveyance and storage.