We're working with a number of schools to reduce flooding and boost biodiversity

We’re working with a growing number of schools in Wales to help them combat climate change, reduce flooding and boost biodiversity.

We’ve recently designed a sustainable drainage system for a new £22 million school currently being built in Powys, Wales.

Ysgol Cedewain SEN School is being built by Wynne Construction as part of Powys County Council’s and the Welsh Government’s 21st Century School Programme.

We have designed a sustainable drainage system for the whole school site with rain gardens, or swales, which wrap around play areas, catch surface water and lead it off into designated planting beds.

These will be filled with wildflowers and ornamental grasses which adapt to drought or wet conditions and help prevent playgrounds from flooding or becoming muddy when it rains. The car park also has permeable paving.

At another school, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Llyn-y-Forwyn school in Ferndale, Rhondda, we have designed a planting strategy inspired by the RCT Action for Nature Plan, which champions local biodiversity and reinforces the existing landscape character of the valley.

Rain gardens, new pond features, new grassland and meadow habitats with bug towers have also been specified to help with water management across the site.

And at a new Welsh medium primary school in Flint, the school’s naturally sloping site has presented Land Studio with an opportunity to design a series of sensitive drainage features to facilitate sustainable drainage.

New boundary treatments within, and to the full perimeter of the site in Oakenholt, include new wildflower and tree planting as well as a rain garden. Planning permission has been granted by Flintshire council this week.

We like to incorporate swales into our schemes because their shallow channels help to capture and manage the runoff of water while also removing pollutants.

These rain gardens can wrap around schools and collect surface water while also containing structural meadow planting.

Our landscape designs give schools an opportunity to create different spaces in the landscape for learning, play and reflection including outdoor classrooms and seating areas. It also brings children closer to nature.