The Market Weighton School

Overview

Mason Clark Associates are on the YORConsult Framework and were appointed to assess the feasibility for different SuDS strategies for a number of schools across East Riding of Yorkshire Council. For certain schools including The Market Weighton School detailed designs were developed and installed.

Tasks/Challenges

This project involved a sustainable drainage scheme to be developed to resolve drainage problems including flooding issues at and around the existing school. The site included existing land drainage to be intercepted and diverted through swale drains; flow rates required control to the greenfield rate. The swale areas required excavation to provide storage with bunding to contain water within the site to protect third parties. Moreover, a new stone pitching headwall was required to prevent the erosion of the swale bank. Working with existing drainage layout serving school buildings, a new swale area was created to store water draining from built-up areas. Mason Clark recommended upgrades to existing drainage where necessary. We also installed a silt trap outlet from swale to improve the quality of water discharge from the site. We were required to accommodate swale drainage within the limited site area and faced the presence of existing services in the swale area.

Activity

We engaged in early discussions with the client to establish requirements and the location of swales to suit the constraints of the project. We carried out a Health and Safety assessment informed by feedback from other school projects on the suitability for the inclusion of swales on a school site. A 3D cut and fill analysis was undertaken to allow for balancing between excavation works and bunding. We underwent design interactions to examine the benefit of flood storage against excavation/bunding requirements.

Results

The client was delighted with the result, the scheme was designed and installed to meet the requirements and provide amenity benefits for the school.