Developing green & blue solutions

Thursday 30 November 2023 || 15 Hatfields, London

Essex Road Rain Gardens - Jenna Selby on behalf of Waltham Forest Council (3).jpeg

The first ever Climate Resilient Streets conference and exhibition is taking place in London on 30 November.
Three changes are about to transform the policy, practice and funding framework supporting the climate resilience of our streets. This event will provide insight and explanation, explore stakeholder perspectives and examine opportunities for delivering innovation, including the win-wins that can be achieved by smart collaboration.

Three reasons why you should attend Climate Resilient Streets:

1. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules are coming. Developers in England will be required to deliver 10% BNG from January 2024 when building new housing, industrial or commercial developments. This means that, by law, they must deliver a ‘net positive’ for the local environment, for example by creating new habitats and green spaces.

To support the implementation of BNG, the Government has pledged more than £15m to assist local planning authorities to prepare. The Government will publish all guidance and the regulations for BNG by the end of November.

2. Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) will become mandatory for new developments in January 2024. This will reduce the risk of surface water flooding, pollution and help alleviate the pressures on our traditional drainage and sewerage systems, says the Government.

The new approach to drainage will ensure sustainable drainage systems are designed to reduce the impact of rainfall on new developments by using features such as soakaways, grassed areas, permeable surfaces and wetlands.

3. The need for interventions has become more pressing as extreme weather events become a regular occurrence. In the past month parts of the UK have been hit by heavy rain and flooding twice: first Storm Babet and then Storm Ciarán just weeks later.

Climate scientists have amassed evidence that the UK is becoming more prone to extreme weather events, and in the past decade there has been more flooding. This has led to increasing demands for more green spaces, tree planting and water storage areas in urban areas as well as the removal of hard surfacing to enhance drainage.

Climate Resilient Streets will attract national and local government practitioners, landowners and developers, utilities companies and water experts, urban planners and landscaping architects to discuss and debate the future of climate resilient streets.

Programme

09.30

Registration

10.00

Creating green & blue environments – what are the components that make up a climate resilient street?

Why do we need to change our streets? How do we measure the benefits? What are the main challenges to bringing about the changes we need at street level and how do we overcome those challenges?

Chair: John Lamb, Chair of Adaptation, Biodiversity & Climate Board of the UK Road Leadership Group

Speakers:

Holly Smith, Project Manager (Surface Water Flooding), GLA
Maria Mejia, International Climate Protection Fellow, EIT Climate-KIC
Adrien Baudrimont, Research Manager, CIRIA
Zac Tudor, Associate Landscape Architect, Arup, Sheffield

11.15

Morning break

11.45

Small interventions that make a big difference

Micro-level measures that don’t cost the earth. There are quick and inexpensive innovative ways of creating climate resilient streets and reducing flood risk. Measures, made possible by different funding sources, can complement one another to make a significant impact

Chair: Eleanor Broad, Associate Director, Create Streets

Speakers:

Habib Khan, Founder and Director, Meristem Design
Rowena Kenny, Green Infrastructure and Nature Recovery Programme Manager, South Gloucestershire Council
Romain Pison, Director of Decarbonisation, SYSTRA
John Lamb, Chair of Adaptation, Biodiversity & Climate Board of the UK Road Leadership Group

13.00

Lunch

14.00

Best practice: More than just a pretty streetscape

How liveable neighbourhood and LTN schemes can encompass practical measures for boosting biodiversity and tackling flood risk. How one scheme can have multiple benefits – active travel, mental health, community cohesion, biodiversity and tackling flood risk

Chair: Steph Bortoli, Head of Communications and Engagement, Project Centre

Speakers:

Matt Panou, Climate Adaptation Manager, Lambeth Council
Amy Priestley, Urban Designer, Urban Movement
Gary Grant, Director, Green Infrastructure Consultancy
Stephen O'Malley, Chief Executive, Civic Engineers

15.15

Afternoon break

15.45

Why partnership working is key to transforming our streets

Seemingly disparate groups are increasingly connecting to develop climate resilient streets. This enables a more over-arching, coherent approach and also opens up an array of new funding possibilities

Chair: Zoe Metcalfe, Director, Connected Thriving Places, Local and Central Government, AtkinsRéalis

Speakers: