SUSTAINABLE drainage specialist Sudsplanter Ltd has been supporting a rainwater management project led by Scottish Water and Dundee City Council, through the Water Resilient Dundee partnership.
The partnership aims to manage the city’s rainwater more naturally, reduce local flood and pollution risk, build climate resilience, and create greener spaces, while engaging with communities.
St Mary’s Community Centre, in the north of Dundee, was identified as a suitable location for a series of small-scale sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), including two SuDSPlanter rain gardens, to ease pressure on the combined sewer network.
Parts of Dundee have experienced significant flooding in recent years. Approximately 88% of the city’s sewers carry both rainwater and sewage, while 13 culverted watercourses historically connect into the network, increasing flood risk during storms.
Although St Mary’s Community Centre sits upstream of flood-prone areas, rainwater runoff from the site ultimately enters the combined sewer network and contributes to downstream flooding.
New sustainable drainage features include two SuDSPlanter units connected to a new roof downpipe at the northern end of the community centre. SuDSPlanters are rain gardens that intercept roof runoff via rerouted downpipes, and direct flows into a system of planters during heavy rain. Water is temporarily stored and filtered through the SuDSPlanter system before overflowing, when required, into a new drainage channel that conveys excess water to an adjacent rain garden.
Within each planter, water is filtered by a deep, layered soil mix, temporarily stored then released in a controlled way. Planters also provide drought resilience by retaining moisture and gradually releasing it into the soil during dry periods. The community centre chose interactive cloud-trays as a feature that directs rainwater into the planters.
Specially selected plant species have improved biodiversity and created new wildlife habitats. Information boards explain how the system works.
Dominic McBennett, catchment planner, Scottish Water, said, “The Water Resilient Dundee strategy is part of our transition towards more holistic, sustainable and adaptable water management. This represents a significant shift from reactive solutions to proactive, integrated systems that enhance the urban environment. St Mary’s Community Centre is a visible example of how this works in practice and demonstrates what sustainable drainage means.”
Rebecca Wade is a senior lecturer in environmental science at Abertay University, who was commissioned to support community engagement and education around the project. She added, “It is absolutely brilliant to see the retrofit measures at St Mary’s Community Centre complete. The systems look great and will deliver water and nature services for many years to come. Collaborative, co-designed and co-funded SuDS projects, like this, are often the best. They are designed with community and stakeholder needs in mind and can add value to other agendas.”
Scottish Water will maintain the planters for the first three-years before handing over to trained community centre volunteers.
Lorna Davis, director at Sudsplanter, said, “We were proud to support the important work of Water Resilient Dundee at St Mary’s which is a brilliant example of collaboration between local authorities, utilities, suppliers and communities.”
This was the first SuDSPlanter installation for Water Resilient Dundee. Following the success of the scheme, the partnership is exploring further installations elsewhere in the city.
