Stormwater management and drainage

Arup has a proven track record in all aspects of stormwater management and drainage, from masterplanning of entire schemes, through to detailed design, working in temperate, arid and tropical environments.

Mansfield SUDS scheme - Part of the Mansfield Sustainable Flood Resilience (MSFR) project, Arup was appointed to help Severn Trent design and implement an urban flood resilience scheme based on biodiversity interventions instead of traditional drainage systems. Turning the town into a sponge, these blue green interventions will free up capacity in sewers by capturing up to 58,000m3 of surface water.

We help clients and decision-makers to develop a clear understanding of their impact on the water cycle, within their context, whether that’s a town, city or entire region. Our approach is to combine traditional and blue-green infrastructure to develop effective and sustainable solutions.

Our services address each element of stormwater management, strengthening an area’s ability to cope:

Drainage masterplanning – at city or district level
SUDS and drainage retrofitting
Smart, digital stormwater management tools
Flood risk assessment

Case study

Shanghai urban drainage masterplanning

Shanghai needs to upgrade its drainage system to support future vision to an Excellent global city by 2035.

The city authority launched a design competition to look for advanced yet implementable strategies from overseas experts for Shanghai’s existing drainage system challenge In all developed areas, coupled with imminent threats of climate change. Drawing upon our global expertise, Arup partnered with Shanghai Urban Construction Design & Research Institute to create a bespoke plan that covers 640km² with a population of 15 million.

Arup challenged the traditional approach of focusing solely on drainage. Instead, we proposed a visionary ‘blue, green and grey’ approach to support an integrated water cycle within the city which benefits other aspects across Shanghai, including ecology, economy and public health.

City Water Resilience Approach

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Services

Asset management

Coastal resilience and adaptation

Climate change risk, resilience and adaptation

Flood resilience and risk management

Geospatial and earth engineering

Nature-based solutions

Regenerative land management

Social value and equity

Digital solutions and tools

NatureInsight

NatureInsight® is a web-based tool that allows users to identify opportunities for nature-based solutions and create landscapes that are resilient to climate change.

Terrain

Terrain, our land use analysis solution brings new insights to the site planning process at the start of the project.

Projects

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Flooding and stormwater

At Arup, we provide integrated and truly sustainable solutions to help developers, local authorities, government agencies, and infrastructure operators to understand and manage flood risks.

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Stormwater management and drainage

City Water Resilience Approach

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Find out more about our how services across the water market can support you:

Projects

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Creating a community-first approach to flood recovery in the United Kingdom

Urban regeneration and net zero goals realised in a new innovation district for Milan

Safeguarding the future of Toddbrook Reservoir

Developing a viable, cost-effective and sustainable flood relief scheme for Cork County Council

Flooding and stormwater