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Retrofitting Cheltenham

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Priors Farm Estate is a typical housing development built in the 1960’s with large front gardens and predominately grassed public open spaces but prone to flooding due to its location within the catchment area.
The estate was highlighted in the Cheltenham Surface Water Management Plan (SWMP) as an area where disconnecting runoff from the surface water sewers and directing this runoff into local green spaces and rain gardens would have direct flood alleviation benefits.
  • Illman Young was commissioned by the EA to design and implement a SuDS retrofit scheme
  • Extensive community consultation carried out to educate the local community about what SuDS are and the benefits they would bring to their community
  • Two main features were used – shallow, partly planted SuDS basins located within public open spaces to collect stormwater from the adjacent road. Road gullies were blocked up and channels constructed under the paving to direct surface water into the basins
  • Rain gardens built within individual properties to attenuate roof water from disconnected downpipes; each resident given choice of rain garden design, plant colours and species mix to extend sense of ownership