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R-LA's Director, Cristina Refolo, was delighted to kick-start the susdrain webinar on Thursday 8th February, guiding a packed online audience through our Fourfields project, which won a coveted susdrain award in 2022.

The Fourfields scheme was praised for its early engagement of a SuDS scheme. As Cristina clearly outlined in her presentation, the project's success was attributed to the fact that the Masterplan was primarily driven by landscape SuDS solutions. The project starts by considering the wider context and allows this to inform the SuDS strategy and the landscape design. The early involvement of a multidisciplinary team with a common goal allowed SuDS solutions to be prioritised, Finally, the design restitches the site back to the wider context, both in terms of blue/green infrastructure, wildlife corridors and human circulation.

Graham Fairhurst, Chair of susdrain's Project Steering Group was so impressed with the scheme he remarked that R-LA's holistic approach, as shown in the presentation, should be used as a template for all projects.

Not only was the event brilliantly attended, but it was extremely cheering to hear from such a varied panel of SuDS enthusiasts. As Jo Bradley said from Stormwater Shepherds, 'A single rain garden might not have much of an impact but cumulatively we can make a difference.' Jo also talked about how we as designers should think more toad-like when we are creating a scheme and in that way we can guarantee success!