PROJECT SHOWCASE
REGENERATION WITH PERMEABLE PAVING AND TREES IN HARMONY
have thrived here and the vegetation has remained green all summer . The critical thing seems to be that even small rainfall events are captured by the permeable paving in summer to benefit trees in the basins ’.
Concrete block permeable paving in conjunction with green infrastructure transforms Bridget Joyce Square , London .
A new case study highlights the impact of concrete block permeable paving as an irrigation source , sustaining and working in conjunction with street trees and green infrastructure to provide numerous benefits .
The award-winning Bridget Joyce Square in Australia Road , White City , London , is a sustainable drainage ( SuDS ) park with community at its heart and an exemplar for future urban landscapes . Designed by Robert Bray Associates ( RBA ) in conjunction with McCloy Consulting for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham , the scheme won ‘ Winner of Winners ’ ( the President ’ s Award ) as well as Winner of the ‘ Adding Value through Landscape ’ category at the 2017 Landscape Institute Awards , and also an ICE London Civil Engineering Award 2016 .
Re-using and Enhancing Paving Its low-intervention , thin overlay technology enables sustainable reuse of existing conventional road bases and their embodied carbon , creating attractive , safe , sharedsurfaces . Capturing rainwater runoff straight from the surface without gulleys , the permeable paving overlays provide a gradual flow of clean water laterally into raingardens or basins , for storage and irrigation of trees and other green infrastructure .
Interpave revisited the project in August 2021 , around 5 years after completion , and noted that the permeable paving was performing well and the trees and other green infrastructure were healthy , substantial and particularly wellestablished . RBA founder , SuDS expert and landscape architect Bob Bray commented : ‘ All the plants have grown really well . Birches are particularly sensitive to drought and urban heat island effect but they
New and Regeneration Schemes Concrete block permeable paving for new schemes generally comprises an upper layer of concrete blocks with permeable jointing and laying course , over a sub-base and other structural layers of permeable material for water storage during rainfall to avoid flooding . But permeable paving also has important implications for the delivery of measures to address climate change , notably by encouraging tree growth .
For example , the 2021 ‘ National Planning Policy Framework ’ ( NPPF ) states : ‘ Planning policies and decisions should ensure that new streets are tree-lined and that opportunities are taken to incorporate trees elsewhere in developments ’. However , measures are needed to nurture and allow trees to mature and deliver their real potential – including net carbon storage , urban cooling through shading and evapotranspiration , biodiversity and public wellbeing .
Long-term Maintenance Requirement So , the NPPF also requires that : ‘ appropriate measures are in place to secure the long-term maintenance of newly-planted trees …’. Local planning authorities now need to incorporate longterm tree maintenance measures in their planning consents and , as a straightforward spatial measure , concrete block permeable paving offers a sustainable multifunctional solution , both for regeneration and new-build schemes .
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