Paving For Nature
Chris Hodson, consultant to the trade body Interpave, revisits an important
building. They are surfaced in concrete
SuDS project that demonstrates the role of concrete block permeable paving as a
block permeable paving and asphalt
controlled source of clean water to encourage and sustain wildlife. It also highlights
draining onto the permeable paving.
the problem-free, low-maintenance nature of the technology over the longer term.
Because of the site slopes, the permeable
pavement sub-base is divided into
The Hazeley Academy is a purpose-built,
heavy clays and effectively impermeable.
compartments by walls extending up from
state of the art secondary school in
The site is a natural habitat for Great
the underlying subgrade to the surface.
Milton Keynes, completed in 2007, with
Crested Newts – a ‘Protected Species’
later additions. The project incorporates
under national and European legislation.
Flow Control
a sustainable drainage system (SuDS)
The western catchment, with permeable
scheme designed by Robert Bray
surfaced tennis courts and grass playing
Associates, incorporating extensive areas
fields, drains via ponds and a linear
of concrete block permeable paving
wetland system to two outfalls on the
around the buildings – the subject of a
north-west boundary and then to a natural
new case study published by Interpave.
watercourse.
Protected Species
This article and Interpave’s case study
Located across the top of a hill, the site
as a whole can be considered as two
distinct catchments divided by a ridgeline.
The topsoi