What is SuDS compliance?

When it comes to surfacing, particularly for retail, residential, and regeneration projects, SuDS Compliance is an important requirement.

SuDS stands for ‘Sustainable Urban Drainage System’. SuDS compliant surfaces are porous and allow for water to drain through to the natural ground, in a similar way to natural surfaces, such as soil. This makes SuDs an important system in establishing porous coloured asphalt. 

Alternatively, SuDS-compliant surfaces may feature a soak-away or swale. In these cases, water is drip-fed into drainage and sewage systems to prevent them from being overwhelmed from water run-off.

The Recent History of SuDS Compliance

SuDS compliance became particularly important in April 2015. This is because, at that time, legislation came into effect which was designed to lessen the impact of surface water flooding into new development areas and causing damage to urban and domestic dwellings. 

This means that any driveway or other surface area must be SuDs compliant to lessen the strain on the national drainage network and minimise the risk of local flooding.

Why is SuDS Compliance so important?

As areas become increasingly urban and built-up, the effectiveness of the earth’s natural drainage systems is diminished as the volume of material within a given space increases. This means that soil, which would normally have more than enough space to allow water and other liquids to seep through and drain away, is clumped so this process can’t happen. Water is left to float on the surface, with the only way of removing it being through artificial drainage or through slow evaporation. 

The problem becomes more concerning in areas without effective drainage. For example, in cities where most of the infrastructure is made of stone and concrete, there is little to no permeability. This means that in periods of heavy rainfall flooding becomes very common. Not only is this devastating for homes and businesses, but it also has a terrible impact on local wildlife too.

SuDs compliant surfacing helps to take away some of the strain on the national drainage network, particularly during heavy rain. For example, driveways and footpaths which are porous and SuDS compliant, allow for water to drain away as it would in nature and feedback into surrounding natural reservoirs such as lakes, streams, and rivers.

Is NatraTex SuDS compliant?

NatraTex surfacing, including NatraTex Colour, NatraTex Eco and NatraTex Cotswold can be made to bespoke specifications in order to increase the porousness of the material.

 Therefore, should a project require SuDS compliant surfacing, NatraTex asphalt surface courses can be made to the correct level of porous to meet these requirements – whether you’re looking for coloured paving for a school playground, decorative driveways, or a MUGA pitch. 

Furthermore, NatraTex’s range of coloured tarmac-alternative surfacing products are very much sympathetic to the surrounding environment and bring many benefits over resin bonded or resin bound systems.

NatraTex Porous was used in a variety of applications for Marjory Kinnon School in Feltham, Middlesex. Due to limited falls on the substrate, it was a requirement that the surfacing should be porous throughout. To find out more about this project, and other NatraTex applications, take a look at our Case Studies.

Learn More About NatraTex’s Products

NatraTex is a solution to the requirement of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in commercial and domestic landscaping. NatraTex is suitable for pedestrian and light vehicular use such as car parks, decorative footpaths, recreational parks, residential roads, and decorative landscaping.

To learn more about NatraTex’s range of self binding gravel and coloured tarmac alternative products, please arrange a CPD session or call our team for more information.