A new case study from Interpave highlights the impact of concrete block permeable paving as an irrigation source, sustaining street trees and green infrastructure without root problems and providing a range of benefits. The award-winning Bridget Joyce Square in Australia Road, London, is a sustainable drainage (SuDS) park with community at its heart and an exemplar for future urban landscapes. Its low-intervention, thin overlay technology enables sustainable reuse of existing conventional road bases and their embodied carbon, creating attractive, safe, shared-surfaces.
Capturing rainwater runoff straight from the surface without gulleys, concrete block permeable paving overlays provide a gradual flow of clean water laterally into raingardens or basins, for storage and irrigation. Some 5 years after completion, the permeable paving is performing well and the trees and other green infrastructure are healthy, substantial and particularly well-established.
Unlike conventional impermeable hard landscape materials, concrete block permeable paving allows the same pattern of run-off transfer to the ground as natural vegetation, allowing water and – importantly – air to reach tree and green infrastructure roots, while still providing an attractive hard surface above. This enables trees to mature and deliver their real potential – including net carbon storage, urban cooling through shading and evapotranspiration, biodiversity and public wellbeing. And research shows that concrete block permeable paving does not suffer from the root damage commonly experienced with other paving surfaces.