Location: North Parramatta, NSW
Products: 2 x SPEL Basin (Modular Bio-Retention Basin) MWS-L-3-6
The Challenge
A new boarding dormitory building was to be constructed within the school grounds of a private boy’s school in Sydney’s North West.
However, the school is struggling to meet the requirement for Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) per the Local Council’s targets, due to stringent design constraints.
Traditional constructed bio-retention was rejected due to excessive interference with the landscape design. Also, the spatial requirements for traditional bio-retention were also creating issues along with conveying roof water (a large portion of the catchment) to them whilst reducing velocities in order to prevent excessive scour.
Our Solution
The SPEL Basin, a modular bio-retention basin, was a perfect fit for an increasing form of design constraints.
The SPEL Basin takes up a fraction of the footprint of traditional bio-retention and also could neatly be designed into the pit and pipe network. A neat design interface was realised in both the courtyard and the landscaping areas designated for the SPEL Basin. This resulted in no interference to current landscape designs thereby removing a significant project constraint.
The SPEL Basin easily met the Local Council WSUD requirements and the school has now taken ownership of the 2 treatment systems. Their desire to have a visible WSUD asset along with minimal maintenance has been achieved.