The Water Resilient Cities (WRC) partnership has piloted sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) in five cities: Bruges, Mechelen, Middelburg, Plymouth and Wimereux. By working together the partners have been able to overcome institutional barriers and find technical solutions to test innovative approaches leading to reduced flooding while protecting and improving amenities, biodiversity, health and wellbeing. The project has also trialled the use of tree pits in locations within the five cities.

• The Millbay Boulevard in Plymouth links the city centre with the waterfront via an attractive route that integrates sustainable urban drainage to protect 1.7 square kilometres of urban land from flooding.
• King Albert I Park in Bruges has been retrofitted to resolve problems of storm water storage and water quality in a very sensitive historic area, creating an additional buffer of 400 m3 water and improving the water quality.
• In Wimereux, Foch Square has been refurbished using a draining concrete product based on shellfish waste. An innovative underground basin has been built creating over 1,000 m3 of new buffering capacity.
• In the Dauwendaele district of Middelburg, the De Overloper sustainable drainage system is being implemented next to a shopping centre. And for the redesign of the Molenwater park, residents were given a real say in the final design of a 2,200 m3 rainwater storage system, offering flood protection to 270 surrounding houses.
• And the historic course of the River Dijle in Mechelen has been opened up. The former car park is now a new waterside space and improvements to the Melaan brook have increased storm water storage capacity by 27,000,m3, with 130 ha being better protected from flooding in the city.

To help disseminate the findings from the project a SuDS Guide has been produced providing case studies and recommendations on SuDS in confined urban environments. And a SuDS Award was launched to promote best practise, with the Award winners invited to the project’s final dissemination event in Peterborough. The event attracted over 70 delegates focusing upon “Retrofitting SUDS: From Design to Delivery”. The event, along with a SuDS training workshop on the WRC Quick Scan Tool for SuDS attracted businesses, planners, designers and policy makers. This was the culmination of a successful series of other WRC network events held in Bruges, Condette, Mechelen and Middelburg which attracted an average of around 100 deletes each.