Designing With Water: Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) Training Course
1Summary
Ask any engineer who has dealt with a flooded site after a storm, and they'll tell you the same thing: retrofitting drainage after the fact is far more expensive — and far less effective — than designing for water from day one. Sustainable Drainage Systems flip the usual approach: instead of treating rainwater as something to remove as fast as possible, they work with natural site conditions to slow it down, clean it and put it to use.
This training course takes participants through the full journey of getting that right — reading a site's rainfall, soil and catchment characteristics, choosing and designing the right mix of SuDS components, managing flood risk and water quality together rather than separately, and carrying a design through construction, commissioning and long-term maintenance without losing performance along the way. Real project types — from residential developments to flood-prone urban areas — are used throughout to ground the theory in practice.
Delivered by Arab British Fellowship Training Academy within Engineering Maintenance and Operation and Construction and Civil Engineering Training Courses, this Designing With Water: Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) Training Course builds the technical judgement needed to plan, design and operate SuDS across real development projects.
2Objectives and target group
- Assess rainfall, runoff, soil conditions and site-specific surface-water risk
- Select and design SuDS components — from permeable surfaces to attenuation ponds — to match site conditions
- Evaluate flood risk and develop mitigation measures integrated into the drainage design
- Design for water quality alongside water quantity, treating both as one system
- Integrate SuDS into wider infrastructure, landscape and urban development plans
- Carry SuDS designs through construction, commissioning and documentation without losing performance
- Assess maintenance requirements and monitor long-term operational performance
- Identify and resolve common design, construction and operational problems in SuDS projects
Target Audience
- Civil and drainage engineers, and water-management professionals
- Stormwater and flood-risk specialists
- Infrastructure and development consultants, urban planners and environmental professionals
- Construction and project managers, site engineers and engineering maintenance personnel
- Local authority and municipal drainage professionals
- Facilities and infrastructure managers
- Anyone involved in SuDS planning, design, construction, commissioning or maintenance
3Course Content
Module 1: Reading the Site Before Designing
- Site investigation: catchment, rainfall, runoff and soil/infiltration characteristics
- Groundwater and environmental considerations
- Conventional drainage versus SuDS, and why the difference matters
Module 2: Design Principles and Component Selection
- Hydraulic design fundamentals: storage, attenuation, infiltration and conveyance
- SuDS components: permeable surfaces, swales, bioretention, ponds, wetlands and green roofs
- Selecting and combining components to match site requirements
Module 3: Flood Risk Management and Mitigation
- Surface-water flood mechanisms and critical drainage areas
- Peak-flow reduction, storage and exceedance management
- Integrating SuDS with wider flood-management strategies
Module 4: Water Quality and Urban Drainage Integration
- Pollutant sources in surface runoff and water-quality treatment through SuDS
- Sediment and contaminant management
- Integrating SuDS with urban drainage infrastructure
Module 5: From Design to Commissioning
- Translating designs into construction requirements and quality control during installation
- Commissioning, punch lists, documentation and handover
- Identifying construction defects before operational use begins
Module 6: Keeping SuDS Performing Over Time
- Routine inspection, maintenance and asset condition assessment
- Managing vegetation, sediment, blockage and erosion
- Monitoring hydraulic performance and long-term operational planning
Module 7: SuDS in Practice
- Applications across residential, commercial, transport and public-space projects
- Practical solutions for flood-prone urban areas
- Evaluating real SuDS design and management decisions