DRAINAGE & LANDSCAPING
POST-PANDEMIC PAVING
gardens, as centrally-located self-driving electric cars become a reality. With uncertainty about how new requirements will pan out over time, a flexible and adaptable approach to urban paving is essential. Designers should now seize the opportunity to reinvent the public realm and take the lead in developing innovative, sustainable and attractive solutions.
If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is the importance of the outdoors – the spaces between and around buildings, as well as the public realm – to our health, safety and wellbeing. But a fresh approach is needed to designing and selecting paving for multifunctionality, sustainability and the ability to adapt to changing needs over time – as Chris Hodson of the trade association Interpave explains. INTERPAVE
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ational and local Governments’ initial responses to the pandemic included a raft of temporary measures, including street narrowing and closures, raised planters and a sea of barriers, bollards and signage, all intended to transfer more space for people from traffic, enabling social distancing. Many of these measures proved unpopular and should be removed over the coming months. But simply reverting to the previous vehicle-led designs is not the answer, and new, attractive solutions are needed for the future.
Re-usable assets Modular concrete paving systems are ideally placed to meet these new challenges, whether on new or retrofitted schemes. Adopting the principles of ‘modern methods of construction’, factoryproduced modular concrete paving delivers fast, lowcost installation, with limited intervention – particularly essential for retrofits. Importantly, in these uncertain times, layouts can easily be altered and modular concrete paving taken up and re-used to meet changing demands, providing a long-term, sustainable asset. The distinct, modular units and designed variations in colour, texture and shape can break up areas giving ‘kerb
Rethinking the urban environment It is now clear that the pandemic has triggered a fundamental rethink about other aspects of how we live and work. The Government has launched ‘active travel’ initiatives encouraging walking and cycling to reduce obesity, while home working and the growth of online shopping have created a debate about new ‘15-minute neighbourhoods’ and the reinvention of the suburbs as well as town centres. The new ‘low-traffic neighbourhoods’ – a reminder of previously adopted ‘home zones’ – highlight a move away from car dependency and the paving needed for them, in favour of shared spaces where pedestrians and cyclists feel at home and car drivers considered as visitors. These initiatives are being embraced again by local authorities in planning policies and masterplans. One visionary example is the Essex new town of Chelmsford Garden Village, where limited car parking will gradually be converted to new uses, such as communal FC&A – APRIL – 2021
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appeal’ and a human scale not possible with monotonous, formless materials. So, modular concrete paving delivers a unique combination of predictability, safety and accessibility for all, with scope for endless variety in shape, scale, colour and texture to enrich the urban environment. It offers potential for real ‘places for people’ that are both multifunctional and adaptable to change. With COVID-19, many longer-term issues, considered important for some time but left on the back-burner, are now resurfacing with the current emergency acting as a catalyst accelerating action. Stemming from our approach to water in the urban environment with climate change, these issues have major implications for the built environment, including paving for both new and regeneration projects. In particular, this winter’s flooding is a timely reminder of the importance of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) in reducing the damaging impacts of rainwater run-off.
