Last updated: October 2021
Three London Plane trees were planted in a specially designed trench in Howard Street, Salford, Greater Manchester in 2015 with the aim of capturing the impact that trees had on both cleaning polluted water from road runoff and managing levels of surface water, which can lead to flooding when not properly managed (ref 1). This project in the City of Salford was created to study how trees can aid in the management of urban stormwater as a novel retrofitted street tree demonstration (ref 3). It was led by Manchester's City of Trees movement. (Ref 3)
Howard Street Project
Steve Chatwin-Grindey (Deeproot), retrieved 08/24/2018
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
- Green areas for water management
- Sustainable urban drainage systems
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Flood protection
- Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Other
Project objectives
The aim of the Howard Street project is to demonstrate and quantify how, in an urban context, Green Infrastructure such as street trees can provide a natural solution to managing surface water runoff and addressing diffuse pollution. Goals were to explore real-life natural solutions for tackling localized flooding and diffuse pollution. (ref 3)
Implementation activities
Three fifteen year-old London Plane trees were planted in the specially designed roadside tree trench in Howard Street, Salford (ref 5). The project, which ran till 2017, had already produced promising initial monitoring results in June 2016 that reveal that the average water volume retention by the tree pit system was approximately 40% and the average storm peak reduction was 50%. Storm waters were also slowed by the system by up to 2 hours (ref 2). The three trees were planted on the street in a 3 layer Silva Cell system filled with a bioretention soil. Water entered the system using slot kerbs, which conveyed it from around a 50m² of catchment area into a distribution pipe under the paving, where it was then distributed evenly throughout the system. An underdrain was at the bottom of the system to convey excess water away. Monitoring chambers at either end were installed to make collecting water samples easy, and data collection began as soon as the last of the monitoring equipment was installed (ref 4).
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Implement sustainable urban drainage infrastructure (e.g. to make space for water)
Main beneficiaries
- Private sector/Corporate/Company
- Researchers/University
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Local government/municipality
- Private foundation/trust
- Researchers/university
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Unknown
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
Monitored By Manchester University (Water sample analysis was undertaken within the Geography laboratories at the University of Manchester)
Project Designer: City of Trees Manchester (ref 3)
Developers/Contractors: City of Trees Manchester/Landscape Engineering
Funded By:
1. City Of Trees (Red Rose Forest)
2. Salford City Council
3. The Environment Agency
4. United Utilities (ref 3)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Yes
(fulfills a key requirement of the European Water Framework Directive (ref 3))
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(The Salford City Council Development Plan Document (Publication Core Strategy, February 2012) - a section on “Green infrastructure spatial strategy” is mentioned (ref 4))
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Public national budget
- Public local authority budget
- Corporate investment
- Other
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Other
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Other
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Water management and blue areas
- Increased protection against flooding
- Improved stormwater management
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Unknown
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1. City of Trees. (n.d.) Howard Street, Salford. Manchester: City of Trees. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
2. City of Trees. (2016). Pioneering street tree research project could hold answer to urban flooding. Manchester: City of Trees. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
3. Wilkinson, J. (2016). Reducing urban diffuse pollution and surface water flooding. PROARB. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
4. Deeproot. (2017). DEEPROOT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, LLC. Bceia. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
5. Deeproot. (n.d.). REVITALIZING Manchester USING GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTUCTURE. Deeproot. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
2. City of Trees. (2016). Pioneering street tree research project could hold answer to urban flooding. Manchester: City of Trees. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
3. Wilkinson, J. (2016). Reducing urban diffuse pollution and surface water flooding. PROARB. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
4. Deeproot. (2017). DEEPROOT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, LLC. Bceia. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 10 Jul 2020)
5. Deeproot. (n.d.). REVITALIZING Manchester USING GREEN STORMWATER INFRASTUCTURE. Deeproot. Available at: Source link (Accessed: 18 July 2020)
Howard Street Project (2016)
Steve Chatwin-Grindey (Deeproot), retrieved 08/24/2018