Why sustainable drainage systems make good sense

Kristen Guida, Manager at the London Climate Change Partnership, explores some of the benefits to hospitals and other healthcare facilities of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), particularly in better rainwater and surface water management. She explores how ‘greening a hospital can provide opportunities for rainwater management and create beautiful places and spaces’.

Before COVID-19, the climate emergency was sparking discussions and driving estates and landscape managers to consider how to address the challenges of climate change and improve sustainability. Although the pandemic has shifted people’s attention in recent months, it has also highlighted the importance of green space for people’s health and wellbeing, and caused an upsurge of interest in Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), or green spaces that manage rainfall and surface water flooding.

SuDS are gaining in popularity because alongside practical drainage and flood risk benefits, they offer a more natural solution with a range of health and wellbeing benefits: attractive green spaces, enhanced water quality, and improved physical and mental health and wellbeing for people. A hospital can be an ideal setting for SuDS, which provide a range of benefits for patients, staff, and visitors. The flat roofs and large impermeable surfaces found in many hospitals provide opportunities to retrofit SuDS, and there have been some notable examples of SuDS installations in hospitals, including at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Southmead Hospital in Bristol, and Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital in Essex, where a SuDS system was retrofitted.