Shadowing-Übung: Nature-based Solutions in action: Lessons from the energy and water sectors - Englisch Sprechen Lernen mit Video

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Welcome everyone to this

Institution of Environmental Sciences webinar, Nature -Based Solutions in Action, Lessons from the Water and Energy Sectors.

My name is Ethnie Childs and I'm Head of Communities

and Partnerships at the IES and I'm going to be hosting the discussion today.

So this webinar is going to provide an introduction to nature -based solutions, exploring how nature can support sustainable and resilient outcomes.

And this will be illustrated through case studies from the water and energy sectors.

The webinar has been organised by our climate action community, an interdisciplinary community that champions transformative approaches to reshaping unsustainable systems.

It brings together IES members from across specialisms and sectors for regular events and discussions, exploring topics related to climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience.

Once we get started, I'll pop a link in the chat

so you can find out a little bit more about that community.

I'm absolutely delighted today to be joined by our two speakers, Matthew Ling and David Hutchinson.

Dr. Matthew Ling is a nature -based solutions lead at GHD, with over 18 years of experience in biodiversity, climate resilience, natural capital and green infrastructure.

He advises clients on integrating nature -based solutions into infrastructure, policy and investment decisions, and leads GHD's role in CEN's pioneering

Nature for Network's innovation programme.

Prior to joining GHD, Matthew led the Cambridge Canopy Project for Cambridge City Council

and spent nearly eight years at the UN Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre, delivering international projects on biodiversity, ecosystem services and environmental decision making.

David Hutchinson is a technical operations manager for Galliford Tri, bringing 18 years experience of sewer and drainage infrastructure design to the long -standing

Seven Trent frameworks.

As design delivery manager for the Seven Trent Mansfield Green Recovery Project, he led the combined internal

and external design teams in the delivery of the town -wide suds implementation to mitigate flooding

and CSO activation through natural drainage solutions.

Thank you so much to you, Matthew and David.

I also wanted to say a thank you to Kripa Dwarakarnas

and the team at GHD for making this webinar possible

and for hosting a little in -person get -together as well at the same time.

To all of our attendees, thank you for joining.

As usual, at the end of the presentation, there'll be some time for Q &A,

and you can submit questions at any point during the presentation using the Q &A function, which you should find along the bottom of your screen,

and I'll read these out on your behalf later on.

In the meantime, I'm really pleased to hand over to you, Matthew, as our first speaker.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that, Ethne.

So we're just going to have a quick, I say quick, 10 or so minutes focusing on nature -based solutions,

and then I'll hand over to David for his spotlight on the 7 Trent Manfield project,

and then I will go back to myself to talk about a project in the energy infrastructure space.

so thank you very much everyone for joining today um and looking forward to a good session

so uh initially um just to set the context of where we are hang on a minute

i'm going too fast for my own good wait there already made a booby right so apologies for that

so yeah first before we get into what mbs are

and how they're applied let's think about the context of why we're here today

and what the major focus of what we're trying to achieve through nature -based solutions is

so due to the over -exploitation of natural resources

and unsustainable practices at a global scale the position

we find ourselves in is in the midst of a twin climate

and biodiversity crisis globally carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase

and are expected to peak in the middle of the decade

continuing to fuel climate change alongside the impacts brought about the changes to our climate threats pressures

and impacts resulting from land use change pollution invasive species

and over exploitation they present multiple risks to biodiversity fueling

and an accelerated pace of species extinction the two crises are inextricably linked, one cannot be solved without addressing the other,

and viewing them in isolation makes little sense practically nor strategically.

Climate change presents us with the greatest threat humanity has ever faced.

Even if all our emissions halted tomorrow, our atmosphere would continue to warm.

This committed warming would likely see global average temperatures increase by 0 .6 degrees

and destined to remain elevated above pre -industrial levels for thousands of years, continuing to affect our biodiversity,

impact our climates and affect the suitability of our existing settlements for us to live in.

The climate and biodiversity crises must be viewed and tackled together.

Thankfully we don't have to look too far for a solution.

The answer is all around us.

Nature.

Nature, by its nature, is resilient, adaptable and sustainable.

It supports us entirely, providing us with essential services and many possibilities, also regulating our climate.

Strategically using nature and its processes to help address societal challenges like climate change

and biodiversity loss is known as nature -based solutions.

The definition of nature -based solutions as agreed upon by the UN Environment Programme is presented on the slide, but it is quite long -winded,

so the simplest way of thinking of MBS is using

and maximising the power and resilience of nature to help us address a range of societal challenges and deliver multiple beneficial outcomes.

One of the central tenets of MBS is that they must result in a net gain to biodiversity and ecosystem integrity,

as clearly depicted on this conceptual diagram from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

MBS could be an extremely effective ally in helping us to tackle the climate crisis.

It's estimated

that more than one third of climate mitigation measures required to

meet the goals of the Paris Agreement could be achieved through nature -based solutions approaches.

Each MBS approach, that is protection, restoration, management and creation, has a significant role in this equation.

Research has found that by protecting 30 % of lands identified as being globally important for biodiversity,

which could prevent land use change that could lead to the liberation of 40 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050.

It's also been estimated that the restoration of lands converted for agriculture

that exist in priority areas for both biodiversity and carbon could lock away 22 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050,

and regenerative agriculture could remove between 100 and 200 gigatons of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere by the end of the century.

The potential is clear.

NBS, as a concept, is still relatively nascent.

Accordingly, the term was first used in about 2002.

However, it's difficult to trace this back.

In 2008, the World Bank published a report called Biodiversity, Climate Change and Adaptation, Nature -Based Solutions from the World Bank Portfolio.

This presented a number of case studies representing a range of natural solutions, but did not define the term.

In 2009, the IUCN stated

that it was promoting nature -based solutions to climate change as an integral part of broader adaptation and mitigation plans and strategies.

But again, no formal definition was set out.

It wasn't until 2016 at the IUCN World Conservation Congress that a formal definition was adopted.

Despite the fact that it's a relatively recently termed coin, we can all appreciate that using elements of nature for our benefit

and to address specific problems and challenges has existed for a much longer time.

NBS is an umbrella term, encompassing other actions and approaches that seek to employ elements and functions of nature for social, environmental and economic purposes.

This graphic from the European Commission helpfully depicts this, covering approaches like green infrastructure, sustainable drainage systems and urban forestry.

It most strongly builds on something called the ecosystem approach and ecosystem -based adaptation, but it also encapsulates ecological restoration,

forest landscape restoration, ecosystem -based mitigation, protected area management, integrated water resources management and many other associated concepts.

So it really does package together quite a few different approaches and actions, some of which I'm sure you're already familiar.

This is a very nice model, a conceptual model developed by the Nature -Based Solutions Initiative out of the University of Oxford.

So it shows the different categories of Nature -Based Solution, which are protection, restoration, management and creation.

It demonstrates that not only

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Nature -Based Solutions, but human well -being, sustainable development as a whole.

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both of those things are underpinned and supported by biodiversity.

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It shows the interaction of people and nature together in the yellow circle

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and the ecosystem services

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or nature's contributions to people we receive from these interactions in the blue band and how they benefit society.

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And it demonstrates that the ultimate goal of Nature -Based Solutions is to support sustainable development, human health and well -being and biodiversity.

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The IUCN defined seven societal challenges which NBS should seek to address.

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These are climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster risk reduction, economic and social development, human health, food security, water security,

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and environmental degradation and biodiversity loss.

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so the real beauty of nature -based solutions as an approach is

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that it's multifunctional delivering multiple environmental social and economic benefits from any single intervention

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so let us imagine for a moment that we are needing to deliver new

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or replacement drainage as David's actually just shared with you as an example Thank you.

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So you could, of course, put in an engineered system of concrete and plastic pipes, drains and culverts, which would do the job very well,

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but they would not do anything in addition.

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Just transmit water from point A to point B.

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Or you could look to nature and implement a nature -based solutions approach using bioswales, rain gardens, etc., as David's just shared with us.

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But even with nature -based solutions approaches, there are different levels which could be achieved.

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I think this is a very useful picture to show this because it visualizes exactly that point.

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So the image on the left, technically speaking, is an extra -based solutions approach.

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It's a bioswale, which does provide some small degree of habitat value

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and tackles the primary challenge it's intended to of water management.

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However, with a little bit more ambition, look what could be achieved in the picture on the right.

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Whilst still effectively doing the same primary job, it now also provides a much greater range of habitat opportunities and support for biodiversity.

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And I think it's safe to say it provides much more opportunity for engagement

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and is a real point of interest supporting human wellbeing.

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This could be taken even further and woody shrubs or trees could be incorporated into the bioswale, providing a range of other ecosystem services like shade,

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urban cooling, air filtration and carbon sequestration and storage.

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So the primary function of these bioswales is to protect against flooding, addressing the disaster risk reduction challenge.

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But as discussed, they also create opportunities for new habitat for pollinators and other invertebrates, as well as habitat for birds,

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bats and small mammals, contributing to tackling the biodiversity loss challenge.

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And in the case of the example that included trees,

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and these systems will also sequester and store atmospheric carbon and contribute to the climate change adaptation and mitigation challenge.

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And finally, these new habitats contribute to urban greening, shade provision, urban cooling and placemaking in general, helping to support human physical and mental well -being,

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therefore contributing to the human health challenge.

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The multiple benefits

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that can be realised from taking nature -based solutions approaches is what differentiates them from traditional single function engineered options

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and that really is their unique selling point, their USP, and why they can be such powerful approaches

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and should be considered in any sustainability strategy as they will contribute to the attainment of a range of targets.

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There are many reasons additional to this that businesses

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and other organizations may want to bring MBS approaches into their projects and processes.

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That may be because of desire to use mbs to contribute to corporate net zero targets

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or to align with emerging concepts or frameworks or to develop resilience for their assets to the impacts of climate change

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it's also well understood

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that by taking nature -based approaches organizations demonstrate leadership enhance their brand gain competitive advantage and realize other benefits too

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and now i need to just um yeah so we'll now

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that we know what nature -based solutions are let's have a look at some of the ways which we benefit from them.

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So as I said earlier, the benefits we receive from nature are called ecosystem services.

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These include things like food and water to sustain us, oxygen provision and air filtration,

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carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, recreational opportunities and flood management among many others.

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We benefit from exposure to nature and the flows of services that we derive from it in different ways.

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Urban green spaces for example are hugely valuable in this sense

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as vast numbers of people interact with them on a daily basis and therefore derive benefit from them.

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They are especially important in contributing to our physical and mental well -being.

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Exposure to and interaction with plants and trees in particular is known to have substantial positive impact on us in numerous ways,

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many of which are often intangible and unappreciated.

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For example, just having a view of trees and natural spaces from classrooms can help us to increase academic attainment.

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And from hospital wards, it can help to increase the rate of post -surgical recovery.

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Now we've talked about what nature -based solutions are and why you might want to consider them.

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Let's have a look at some examples.

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So the scope and scale of MBS application is vast.

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There's just a few examples presented here, including green walls and green roofs.

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wetlands for water attenuation and wastewater treatment, coastal management and protection, urban forestry,

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sustainable soil management, mangrove restoration and establishment, and woodland creation.

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In short, there is likely to be an option to incorporate more nature into almost any context

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or project with huge potential to contribute to biodiversity net gain, circular economy, net zero, and other sustainability targets.

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Nature -based solutions can provide a viable and multi -beneficial alternative to traditional engineered approaches,

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and they can be deployed in almost any environment or situation to tackle various challenges, as depicted by this range of interventions in an urban context.

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Incorporating MBS approaches into urban settings creates important habitat, supporting biodiversity

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and developing connectivity between islands of habitat across cityscapes

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it can also help our towns become more resilient to climate change

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and its consequences things like flooding and heat stress making them better for residents and other users

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now we know what mbs are what they set out to address

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and achieve let's think about what they are not they are not biomimicry

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or biomimetics which are concepts which seek to integrate

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or take inspiration from elements of nature and applying them to human processes and designs.

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Some good examples of this are velcro for example or the curved wingtips of planes.

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NBS are also not the same as biophilic design which, whilst it does have some overlaps with green infrastructure in particular,

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is focused at a different scale with different objectives.

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Biophilic design works more at the micro scale to integrate elements of nature in the built environment to enhance human experience,

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for example, green atriums or courtyards and office greening.

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Green or sustainable design approaches or low impact design and development, as outlined in earlier slides,

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can include approaches which do fall under the definition of MBS, but it also includes built -in interventions,

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as David was saying, like permeable paving and rainwater harvesting using barrels, butts and systems, which are complementary but are not MBS in their own right.

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MBS should not be seen as alternatives to decarbonisation actions

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and other sustainable practices but they can form part of combined strategic approaches.

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MBS should not be applied tokenistically, that is to say done in small scale non -strategic ways which deliver little to no positive impact or outcome.

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Doing so could be seen to be greenwashing.

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MBS are also not infallible and cannot be treated as set and forget interventions.

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They need active management and maintenance from the outset, or they will fail.

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This is then particularly damaging as it then turns any support

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for these often novel interventions against the broader concept as a whole.

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And importantly, despite the level of interest in and momentum behind MBS, they should not be seen as a silver bullet to solving all our problems.

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Hello everyone, my name is Dave.

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I resilience project uh that gallif had tried with the seven track water

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and other project partners

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so at the time this was the largest scale retrofit suns project in the uk

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and saw us take over 30 million liters of water out of the um the surface water

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and sewer network whilst also creating four

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and a half hectares of improved our green space and biodiversity across the town of mansfield

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so this was a a very exciting project to be involved in ran for around for about three years

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i'll do my best to try and condense

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that down into into circa 10 minutes um so

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if i can get this to move on

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so um whilst sustainable drainage systems or suds

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so they are they use nature -based solutions to try

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and mimic the natural drainage processes and ultimately capture rain where it lands

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so rather than in an urban environment where rain falls on an impermeable surface

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and runs straight into a drain it mimics the permeable

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or undulating ground so that rain is captured as it lands

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and then released more slowly back into the drainage networks or into the environment

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and ultimately it's a case of trying to choose the right

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type of the right type of subs feature for the right position.

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So on the Mansfield project we used a combination of everything that you can see on the screen here.

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The detention basins were actually delivered by another contractor in a

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kind of a more more of a traditional suds feature if you like so this presentation doesn't really touch on those.

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The bioswells, verge rain gardens and street rain gardens form the mainstay of the project

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and then permeable paving is not strictly speaking an based solution

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but as this was a suds project the paving does kind of form a part of that.

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So keeping it very brief suds are comprised of working from from bottom up a storage layer of granular

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or other storage medium to give somewhere for the water to go above

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that a filter medium which is a slightly finer grade of permeable stone aggregate.

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a mixture of stone and soil to create a growing medium

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if you're using a planted type

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and then plants with a mulch layer around them to suppress weed growth

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or permeable paving blocks with with gaps in all of the

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joints to allow the to allow the water to go through

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and a couple of the kind of other key key parts here is flow controls

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and check downs

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so ultimately on the mansfield project the the seven truck business

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case was uh funding was hinged around taking us a given volume of water out of the network

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so they were needed that to be uh not to be quantifiable

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but also because it was retrofitted the all of this water was destined for the sewer network

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so in some instances the the drain down route on these features was back into that network

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so needed to be um restricted using a an orifice plate

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in a in a chamber these chambers were bespoke designed at the beginning of the project

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and then fabricated en masse for uh installation on site with

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a a pre -made plastic chamber with a removable orifice plate for easy maintenance

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and non -return valve to protect the system from any uh any sewage backing up from the combined network.

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You've also got check dams there on the right hand side.

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Unfortunately, especially when retrofitting, a perfect site which is nice and flat at the bottom of a sloping catchment is rare,

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so a lot of the sites that we installed suds into were sloping in themselves.

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So the check dams are there to cause the water to back up behind each dam,

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making the most out of the storage layers below ground and above ground.

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There's a weird notch in the middle there

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that over spills onto an erosion mat underneath so

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that the water cascades down using up all the storage before going down by down to the bottom

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and then being either released back through a flow control chamber as you see there or infiltrating down into the ground.

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The sheer number of sites that

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Seven Trent were trying to install across the whole lot of Mansfield meant

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that their normal capital delivery framework process wasn't really fit for purpose

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so we worked with Seven Trent

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and their other contractor partners at the beginning of the project to develop a slightly tweaked end -to -end process.

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The initial site selection process was done by Seven Trent's outline design consultant, AECOM.

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They developed an automated tool which assessed all of Mansfield and identified high,

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medium and low likelihood areas for SUDS to be installed.

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Their outline design teams then took those

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and developed them further into an outline design with a rough size

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and shape and volume associated with it based on site walkovers and initial constraints management.

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It went through review processes with Seven Trent

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and with Nottingham Mission County Council for highway safety and then promoted into detailed design.

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We undertook site investigation, topographic surveys of the catchments to confirm exactly how much water

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was going to go into each of the suds features

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that we designed that allowed us to confirm the volume the beneficial storage volume

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that was in there for the design during the design storm event assess the constraints

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and come out with a finished design

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that could be taken out onto site the there was a

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final highway safety review with not actually county council uh

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and then and then off we went

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so the at the height of construction across our half of Mansfield

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we had some 25 to 30 gangs operating at any one time

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installing these across wide swathes of the town with all of the logistical

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and highway noticing challenge that came along with that

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but that's a that's an entirely different presentation in its own right

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and then finally handover and flows out at the end

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so i'm just going to take um briefly talk through sort of each of the intervention types

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and give a bit of an example to bring them to life

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so this is the the town center this was one of the first ones

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that were done it was a bespoke detailed design

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that was done by a econ

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and then constructed by galliford try

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this was a formerly um sort of neglected unused gray car

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parking space in the in the centre of Mansfield just off the market square

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and was regenerated using rain gardens grassed areas uh tree pits

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and sort of seating

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and to create this this flagship amenity space the the intention

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being to really show the people of Mansfield what what suds could be

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and what they could do as a as a way into

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the what was going to be a three -year program of work across across the whole of the town

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So perma paving, just to touch on this quickly

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because it did form part of the project although strictly speaking isn't an NBS,

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these did sort of fall out of favour in terms of the long street side parking arrangements,

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these didn't work quite so well as we'd hoped

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when retrofitting the long and cross falls on the roads tended to channelise the flow

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so we shifted attention to larger flatter areas such as in the bottom picture there

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this one being in front of some some garages

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or the other ones

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that work quite well with turning heads at the end of

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cul -de -sacs where the flow could spread out over the paving

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and really maximize the the joints and soak through into the layers beneath.

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Moving on to street rain gardens these ones also fell out of favour on the project

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but these were due to customer objections

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so a lot of these were in relatively dense housing areas where people relied on on -street parking

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and clearly these straight street rain gardens are taking up what would have been parking bays

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there were also problems with people manoeuvring backing off drives

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and things like that

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so these tended to attract more objections than any of the other featured types

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so the these also towards the end of the project stopped

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to be being promoted in favor of some of the other the other types that will come on soon.

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Just on the left hand side there this particular one

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that is pictured used hydro rock blocks which are a compressed fibrous material

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which has a void ratio in the region of 90 % compared to 30 % or so with granular aggregates.

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So these mean that we could store a lot more volume per cubic metre excavated below the ground.

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The only slight drawback being that we needed a concrete boundary wall between the highway structure

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and the blocks themselves just to to deal with the traffic

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loading um moving on to verge rain gardens much much better received in terms of customers uh

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and the local residents these ones but with different constraints

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so these use the wider grass verges

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or wide footways as a location to put them however those

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are the kind of locations where all of the existing utilities are

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so in particular the sort of telecoms

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and cable type services tended to interfere with the storage layers below these types of interventions.

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That's not to say that it's not possible,

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it just meant there was a little bit more thinking in some of these cases to try and get them in.

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You can see there the long dropped curbs all the way along the extent of it,

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allowing the water to run off the road channel and into the inside itself.

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On the top left there you can see the planting underway these are all drought tolerant plants

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that are able to deal with the full range of conditions

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that you get in these from complete drought to completely inundated with water.

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They were all planted using plug plants

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or pre -potted to get them to establish quickly

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and there's a photograph towards the end of a fully established rain garden to give you an idea of what

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that looks like once it's actually had a year of growth.

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The bioswales are, these proved to be one of the most successful ones, we've promoted a lot of these towards the end of the project.

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They're much better at getting a significant volume in,

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so we would pick up a relatively large area of highway by removing gullies

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and then piping into a headwall at the top of of this the the other thing to mention is

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that bioswells tend the word bioswell tends to mean a relatively long

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and narrow suds feature where on mansfield it it actually more represented a miniature detention basin they combine above

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and below ground storage and then once fully planted

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and established look like the picture on the right hand side with clear environment environmental

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and biodiversity benefits so just i think i'm probably running a little bit low on time

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so those are the the key challenges i think i've touched on on all of

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that there the that picture on the left is a bioswale before it's established

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so the all of the green around the perimeter of it is meadow turf from pictorial meadows

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that once established looks like the previous picture and you can see there in the foreground the the exceedance gully,

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so when this is full the water would overspill into the gully

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and back into the sewer network so it's not introducing any flooding risk.

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So where would we use suds?

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The detention basins have a large land take

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but can deal with a much larger catchment so if you've got space detention basins give you an economy of scale.

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The bioswales represent a nice happy medium where you've got small to medium green spaces

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they are very effective additions provide lots of biodiversity for modest drainage catchments.

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The rain gardens tend to work best as part of wider streetscaping schemes

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and where you haven't got any sort of small pockets of green space

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they can bring greenery to otherwise completely grey spaces along with biodiversity

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and paving as i say not mbs

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but they do have their place in sustainable drainage schemes

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and are best used in flat areas or new build roads where you can control canvas

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So the Mansfield project ultimately proved that a reduction in peak drainage flow

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and overflow activation is possible through an entirely suds -based strategy.

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What we're seeing from 7Trend is rather than full suds schemes like Mansfield, we are getting projects now promoted

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that are coming through with a hybrid between traditional grey solutions

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and suds NBS solutions to almost try

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and pick out the best of both worlds

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and use them in a complementing way to deliver the flood mitigation

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that's needed across their catchment with a minimum of carbon impact and maximising biodiversity and community benefits.

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So I'm now going to briefly talk you through the Nature for Networks project,

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which we've been helping to deliver with and on behalf of Scottish Southern Electricity Networks distribution since 2023.

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We initially carried out a three -month scoping phase, which was followed by a six -month proof -of -concept phase.

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And in February this year, we were awarded nearly eight million pounds of funding through Ofgem's Strategic Innovation Fund to carry

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this work through a five -year field demonstrator testing phase.

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I was going to talk to you a little bit about SSEN and their broader context, but in the name of time,

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I think I'll skip through some of that.

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There's some details on the slide about the two networks that they operate in.

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So as we know, electricity networks form a major component of our critical national infrastructure

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and network assets are exposed to the increasingly unpredictable and severe impacts brought about by climate change, like flooding and extreme heat.

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To date, only hard engineering solutions are employed to overcome network problems

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and challenges however nature could provide us with other options

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and approaches which are not reliant on steel and concrete are effective

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and provide climate biodiversity social

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and well -being benefits among others although these nature -based solutions

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exist in other contexts they've not been previously applied with electricity

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network infrastructure the nature for networks project set out to explore what

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if any possibilities exist for electricity distribution network operators in the UK and beyond to use nature -based solutions.

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For electricity networks, as with every other sector, they are facing more frequent and more extreme weather events, posing huge risks in terms of customer supply.

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For an example, an assessment conducted by SSCM before the commencement of the project found

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that 65 of their primary substations were at risk of flooding, with the potential to affect more than 650 ,000 customers.

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It's essential therefore that these assets are safeguarded.

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The project began with three framing questions to guide our approach.

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These were what assets exist across electricity distribution networks, what challenges and problems do those assets face now and then potentially into the future,

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and what if any current engineering solutions or approaches are employed to overcome these challenges.

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To address the first framing question we needed to map out all the relevant assets.

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So through engagement with SSCN and drawing on our own in -house technical experience and expertise from our energy solutions teams,

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we specified the various assets of relevance to the project.

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And to identify what challenges or problems the network assets experience now, and again potentially looking into the future,

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SSCN made their fault data available to us for analysis.

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Now whilst that doesn't provide a complete picture of the challenges

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and problems encountered as it only relates to faults in the network it's a good indicator of the range

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and main sources of problems that they experience engagement

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and consultation with sscn and review of other materials that they hold

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and various other resources like engineering justification papers for example provided further insights into other challenges experienced across their networks.

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Some of these included flooding, overheating, rodents and other vermin, security, noise, visual amenity, contamination,

404

short circuits due to nesting birds and other wildlife and high embodied carbon, for example.

405

we then reviewed the range of traditional engineered solutions

406

that are being used to overcome these problems

407

and challenges things like security fencing and flood barriers

408

and the undergrounding of cables amongst others we then reviewed all of this information

409

and data together and developed a theoretical list of potential nature -based solutions approaches

410

which could be applied to help overcome or alleviate those problems and provide suitable potential alternatives to those current engineered approaches.

411

That list included woodland establishment, strategic use of other forms of vegetation, bioremediation, sustainable drainage systems, green infrastructure,

412

natural flood management, marine habitat creation and peatland restoration among others.

413

Through the project so far,

414

we have assessed the feasibility of applying MBS to an energy network as effective and viable alternatives to traditional engineering.

415

We identified 14 potential approaches and compiled them in an MBS catalogue.

416

We conducted deeper analysis and design of four specific MBS approaches and their applications to SSCM's networks.

417

We focused on identifying barriers and enablers for each approach to be acceptable by the regulator and to the network customers.

418

We've investigated how engineering standards could be replicated for these solutions

419

and factored these into the concepts and outline designs to ensure that each MBS approach is not just a theoretical exercise,

420

but something that could actually be deployed into business as usual somewhere down the line.

421

We've also developed key performance indicators to measure the performance

422

and function of each MVS and we've developed site selection criteria and identified a range of trial sites.

423

Now we are underway with the field testing program we're making good progress in terms of planning

424

and design of these different physical demonstrators

425

and this is a crucial step to ensure that we can evidence their effectiveness and document the steps needed to consent,

426

design, deliver and maintain these solutions.

427

Now we're going to have a closer look at the four specific use cases

428

which the project is progressing in the field demonstrator testing phase.

429

The first of these is linear woodland in relation to overhead lines.

430

The current situation with overhead lines is that they cross all types of land

431

and unless there's a specific requirement for demand or demand to underground those cables,

432

most typically owing to visual impact concerns they are left exposed to the elements

433

and the risks from adjacent vegetation

434

and other windborne materials for example where existing woodland is present

435

cuttings are made for the lines to pass through these forest blocks

436

and that vegetation presents a liability requiring regular monitoring

437

and management in open landscapes on the other hand overhead lines pass through with little interruption.

438

However, with little topographic shelter, the lines are completely exposed to the full force of wind,

439

rain, snow and ice, which can lead to lines touching and short -circuiting, line breakages, breaking or falling poles, impact from flying debris and bird strikes.

440

Our proposed MBS approach to overcome or mitigate against these challenges was to design, specify and establish linear woodland immediately adjacent to the overhead line corridors.

441

The trees and shrubs in these linear woodlands would be planted at specifically defined distances from the line such

442

that they could never come into direct contact with the assets themselves.

443

By establishing woodlands of this nature in this way we could strategically safeguard network assets enhancing network reliability

444

and performance and delivering a wide range of additional co -benefits like habitat provision, carbon sequestration and storage, enhanced visual amenity,

445

recreational opportunities, physical and mental well -being support, and the removal of the need to do potentially environmentally damaging undergrounding activities, for example.

446

Our first demonstrated test site for this is currently being prepared for planting this winter.

447

The site is a little over two hectares in area

448

and will be planted with more than 3 ,000 mixed local provenance native tree species.

449

This is a conceptual drawing showing a cross -section of this proposed linear woodland approach on either side of an overhead line,

450

demonstrating how the woodland could provide screening, shelter and protection and showing that it maintains that clearance to the asset itself.

451

Our second use case focuses on using sustainable drainage systems in

452

and around primary substation sites to mitigate against surface water of flood risk.

453

We understand that such solutions may not always be possible owing to site constraints, soil types and conditions, and hydrology, among other factors.

454

But there's sufficient flexibility and a range of approaches that make this family of native -based solutions a good potential option.

455

We envisage using biodiverse swales, retention ponds, detention basins, and so on, as in the example that David presented, in fact, as well as other features,

456

to reduce flood risk at vulnerable sites.

457

A trial site location has been identified and we're in advanced discussions with the landowner, a local authority, about access, design and management arrangements.

458

The proposal is to daylight or open up an existing culvert which the council are in favour of.

459

The third use case relates to oil -filled transformers at substation sites.

460

So this is a bit of an interesting one.

461

So where you have ground -mounted transformers containing more than 200 litres or more of insulating oil,

462

they require secondary containment mechanisms to prevent oil escaping into the environment in case of equipment malfunction or failure.

463

Currently, concrete bunds form basins around transformers providing this secondary containment, as well as providing fire protection measures whereby

464

if a fire were to start in the transformer and a catastrophic leak of oil occurred,

465

the fire would be contained within the bunded basin and prevented from moving further across the broader substation site.

466

Whilst concrete bunds and basins are very effective they rely on huge amounts of concrete

467

with that associated carbon footprint and again contributing to further climate change impact

468

which is a direct challenge to SSCN's net zero targets.

469

In the project's discovery phase

470

we conceptualized a potential MBS alternative using bioswales to provide the

471

same secondary containment function whilst not being reliant on large quantities of concrete.

472

And that would also provide a range of co -benefits such as habitat provision, microclimatic enhancements and visual amenity improvements.

473

In the earlier phase of the project we developed this concept further to consider layout, dimensions, materials, planting specifications, site selection criteria,

474

access and egress for health and safety reasons and we've identified potential trial sites.

475

We've subsequently developed a detailed fire testing specification

476

and are currently in the process of procuring a specialist contractor to undertake this work.

477

If the design passes, this phase will move on to detailed design and build at the identified site location.

478

The final one focuses on overhead lines again, but specifically the wooden poles that go with them.

479

So across SSEN's distribution network, there are more than 128 ,000 kilometres of overhead lines and underground cables,

480

much of which passes across farmland.

481

Overhead line poles on farmland are exposed to risk from collisions with farm vehicles and equipment, and from potential disturbance and interference from livestock.

482

Collisions and other direct impacts with these assets can result in minor temporary service disruptions

483

or more major disruptions where infrastructure is requiring to be replaced.

484

Our last use case focuses on a solution to seek to address this.

485

Engineered solutions which could be used to protect these assets include various forms of fencing,

486

sheathing or other livestock focused solutions such as scratching or rubbing devices.

487

However, we understand that many overhead line poles are left simply unprotected.

488

Our proposed nature -based solution approach is to establish thorny hedgerows

489

in small corral type enclosures around the base of overhead line poles, and that would completely exclude livestock access to the assets.

490

The use of stiles or gated entries for accessing egress would allow engineers to conduct site visits and maintenance work.

491

Our proposed design creates a hedge around the perimeter of the asset with enough space inside for an engineer to operate.

492

The outer diameter of these would be sort of three meters or more on each aspect,

493

creating a very visible and apparent object for farm workers in vehicles to observe and work around safely.

494

Species which could be included are kind of any native thorny plants so blackthorn, hawthorn, holly, roses, brambles etc.

495

Modifications to the designs could be made specifically to accommodate other infrastructure like end pole arrangements or cable stays.

496

Following specific feedback we understood

497

that this design could be shaped in way that's more practical to plow around or to work around in vehicles.

498

One of our project partners is the James Hutton Institute based in Scotland

499

and they are preparing to establish a number of these demonstrators on their glensock farm this winter

500

so that one's in quite a good state of advancement.

501

I'll wrap up there that's the end of my project spotlight.

502

So I don't know if there's still time for some Q &A, but I'll hand you back over to Effie.

503

Thank you very much.

504

Thank you so much, Matthew.

505

That was brilliant.

506

A really interesting project there with SSEN.

507

So thank you so much for talking us through that.

508

We are a little bit over, but for those of you who can stay on,

509

I'm suggesting maybe we go through a couple of questions before I do the outro, if you're both comfortable with that.

510

I can see nods, so that's good um so um David

511

if I could start with you um thank you

512

so much for your example that was really interesting to see

513

and you kind of talked through different um approaches you'd use

514

and how some of them were more um kind of accepted than others in the community um I wonder

515

if you could talk about whether there was any kind of co -creation

516

or co -production with residents um and uh

517

and whether kind of community engagement is going to be one of the things

518

that you take forward in future projects yeah okay

519

so the there was some very limited community engagement the um

520

seven trend did reach out in the very early stages of the project

521

and ran um sort of community open days and things like

522

that but the the scope

523

and scale of the project across the whole of mansfield made

524

it very difficult to have um you know very small small scale

525

and engagements with residents on any any given road

526

or group of roads because the the hundreds of roads

527

that we're working working on across across mansfield made that very difficult

528

but yes it's definitely a big lesson learned for for us

529

and for seven trend or in terms of that community engagement

530

and the impact on um on on the communities the the positive impacts in terms of the green space

531

that these bring

532

but the those sort of the negative impacts on actually the way people use the roads as well

533

so that that is being taken forward now

534

that schemes are being promoted with slot with sort of smaller scale suds in addition to gray space means

535

that that engagement can be that that bit more detailed with the communities on the ground in those locations.

536

That makes a lot of sense thank you very much

537

And one for you, Matt.

538

So given that policy financing and technical standards still favour traditional grey infrastructure,

539

what changes do you think are needed to promote nature -based solutions and wider nature -positive engineering?

540

You did mention standardisation in your presentation, so I'd be keen to know your thoughts on that,

541

especially given some of kind of David's reflections around the need for bespoke approaches to different locations.

542

thank you yeah i think um one of the major barriers still is sort of general uncertainty

543

and skepticism around i guess ultimately will they deliver what you want them to i think

544

uh better data capture better data sharing on

545

that front is going to be a big asset to help um promote further rollout

546

so where where projects are underway in you know

547

and in any different sense

548

i think finding a way to capture how much schemes have cost what the level of benefit

549

they're delivering is uh engagement numbers you know any interesting

550

and relevant metrics to support their general function i suppose

551

i think all of that's going to help to paint a much better picture around um deliverability

552

and sort of cost effectiveness that often comes into it as well um

553

and so i think all of that is going to be an important part of

554

that equation great thank you um

555

and for both of you um there's a question

556

that's coming up quite a lot around kind of maintenance of nature -based solutions

557

so once the nature -based solution has been implemented um kind of how is maintenance managed whose whose responsibility is

558

that how is that kind of thought about throughout the design um

559

and on and onwards shall i jump in so specifically from that

560

seven trend um committed to maintaining these over the long term

561

so the their approach was that

562

if they were to build a gray sort of traditional gray solution they would have to maintain

563

that over the course of its life so swapping

564

that for a for a green solution they're using the same maintenance money

565

but to maintain the the sud solutions across mansfield as part

566

of their network great thank you um matthew did you want to come in on

567

that at all yeah i think i mean it's going to vary in every individual situation

568

and context i think um

569

so recently i was talking to a specialist provider who develops green living walls for example um

570

and very often there's a lot of criticism around those in particular

571

because once they fail they're very obvious and people point at them

572

and say oh my god what is that um

573

and it looks really really bad whereas you know on the flip side

574

if they're vibrant and doing really well and um

575

uh so lush and green still it's a real positive asset

576

so they're very very stark contrast and that provider said

577

that they now don't provide them sort of on an individual basis it it goes with the building

578

so it's signed up as part of the sort of the terms of taking on a new building

579

and it's built into the insurance policies and stuff and i thought

580

that was a really interesting approach so that that bakes in

581

that maintenance regime from the outset and for the lifetime of the whole building

582

so regardless of whether

583

or not you get new tenants coming in there is no question around maintenance

584

and upkeep so i thought that was really interesting um

585

but otherwise some of the examples

586

that we're looking at through the projects um you know sscn whilst

587

they have a huge impact across vast swathes of land they aren't big land owners in their own right so things

588

that we can do within the fence line of their um substation sites for example

589

that's sort of within their control but as soon as you go outside the fence it's either on farmland

590

or it's in within the public realm so it's a question of whether

591

or not it becomes adopted by a local authority and

592

if that's acceptable to them and these are questions

593

that we're sort of unpicking

594

and exploring through the project in fact great thank you that's really interesting um

595

and then final question um i'm sorry

596

if we didn't get to your question i will pass them on

597

if you're both happy with that um so

598

that i can get back to people

599

if they're interested um sorry the final question is around um uh monitoring um

600

so thinking about the kind of monitoring of outcomes specifically um

601

is is there a monitoring uh kind of schedule in place

602

for some of these nature -based solutions how will how will

603

there kind of be evaluation as to whether the outcomes

604

that were expected from these mbs have delivered in practice

605

and david i can see you've unmuted yeah i'll jump in on

606

so on mansfield there was combined approach where a a portion of the sites

607

that we installed were installed with standpipes

608

and water level monitors to get real -time data correlating rainfall

609

to the the storage volumes within the sites to verify

610

that they were doing what we expected them to do and

611

that that was run as a a joint academic exercise between Semtrent

612

and the University of Sheffield and the there were also sewer network monitors

613

and there was a they did a post a post project hydraulic um uh monitoring

614

and then hydraulic modeling exercise to to verify the impact

615

that these um these installations had on the on the network performance great thank you um

616

and matthew did you want to comment on this

617

i think i mean it sort of plays back to my comment earlier around

618

that sort of greater provision of data to to evidence uh

619

that they're effective and what have you so i think it's really important

620

and a good point to raise um so in the project

621

that we're delivering nature for networks there's

622

because it's public money for a start it's really important

623

that we are capturing all of that information and we are

624

so we've developed the key performance indicators and we'll be doing

625

that sort of long well me

626

that for the lifetime of the project at least we'll be monitoring

627

and capturing all of that data um i think it's challenging

628

so unless unless there is a a big project like the

629

one david's been presenting on where you can bring in an academic partner

630

i think that's often a good way to to do this

631

but um otherwise if it's a one -off interventions it might be cost prohibitive sometimes

632

but um yeah no less valuable so i think being creative around

633

And finding a way to incorporate that monitoring is certainly valuable.

634

Brilliant.

635

Well, I want to say a massive thank you to you,

636

Matthew, and you, David, for presenting today and to all of our attendees for coming along as well.

637

Thank you for bearing with us with a few of the technical challenges and for staying on a bit longer as well.

638

It's been a really interesting presentation and discussion.

639

This webinar has been recorded and it will be made available on our YouTube channel

640

and if you are watching the recording please do subscribe to the channel like the video

641

and hit the bell to gain notifications of new content um

642

if you enjoyed today please do take a look at the other IES events you can see

643

that on our website

644

and I've actually um dropped a link in the chat to our next webinar

645

which is on the 26th of October and is on powering healthy seas

646

and this webinar will examine the concept of a nature positive

647

offshore wind transition exploring how spatial strategic planning policy reform

648

and conservation action can help deliver both thriving SEAS and accelerated renewable energy deployment.

649

Finally, if you are an IES member watching, don't forget to record your attendance using the CPD tool,

650

which you can do in the members portal of the website.

651

And if you're not a member, please do consider joining the IES to support your professional development.

652

I'm afraid that's all we have time for.

653

Thanks again, Matthew and David.

654

Have a great rest of your day.

655

Goodbye.

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Wortschatz und Sprechhinweise zu dieser Lektion

Diese Sprechübung basiert auf dem Video „Nature-based Solutions in action: Lessons from the energy and water sectors“. Diese Wörter kommen am häufigsten vor: nature, solution, project. Dieses Video enthält 655 Sätze und 8781 Wörter zum Nachsprechen. Der gesprochene Teil dauert 55:12. Der Sprecher spricht in natürlichem Tempo, etwa 159 Wörter pro Minute, ähnlich wie im Alltagsgespräch. Nur 80 % der Wörter gehören zu den 3.000 häufigsten im Englischen, der Wortschatz ist also anspruchsvoll.

Wichtiger Wortschatz in diesem Video

15 lernenswerte Wörter aus dem Video, mit Aussprache und Bedeutung:

Wort	Aussprache	Bedeutung
flood Substantiv	/flʌd/	Flut, Überflutung
infrastructure Substantiv	/ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/	Infrastruktur
sustainable Adjektiv	/səˈsteɪnəbəl/	nachhaltig, aufrechterhaltbar
drainage Substantiv	/ˈdɹeɪnəd͡ʒ/	Entwässerung, Drainage
monitor Substantiv	/ˈmɑ.nɪ.tɚ/	Aufpasser, Wächter
overhead Substantiv	/ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/	allgemeine Unkosten
contribute Verb	/kənˈtɹɪb.jut/	beisteuern, beitragen
habitat Substantiv	/ˈhæb.ɪ.tæt/	natürlicher Lebensraum, Standort
engagement Substantiv	/ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ.mənt/	Verpflichtung
intervention Substantiv	/ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/	Intervention, Eingriff
basin Substantiv	/ˈbeɪsɪn/	Becken, Waschbecken
ecosystem Substantiv	/ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/	Ökosystem
concrete Adjektiv	/ˌkɑnˈkɹit/	konkret, bestimmt
restoration Substantiv	/ɹɛstəˈɹeɪʃən/	Restaurierung, Wiederherstellung
woodland Substantiv	/ˈwʊd.lənd/	Wald, Forst

Phrasal Verbs, die du hören wirst

Wort	Aussprache	Bedeutung
bring together Verb		zusammenführen
carry out Verb	/ˈkæ.ɹi aʊt/	raus tragen
come along Verb		mitgehen
come up Verb		erscheinen
find out Verb		herausfinden, erfahren
get back to Verb		sich melden
go down Verb		absteigen, hinabsteigen
lock away Verb		wegsperren

Sätze zum Wiederholen

Kurze, vollständige Sätze aus dem Video, die du im Alltag wiederverwenden kannst:

Let's have a look at some examples.
I think I'll skip through some of that.
I'm afraid that's all we have time for.

Grammatik in diesem Video

Die Strukturen, die der Sprecher am häufigsten verwendet, mit den genauen Worten aus dem Video:

Struktur	Im Video
Bedingungssätze if + Satz, will/would + Verb – eine Bedingung und ihre Folge	If the design passes, this phase will move
Present Perfect Continuous have/has been + -ing – eine Handlung, die früher begann und noch andauert	we've been helping · david's been presenting
Present Perfect have/has + Partizip Perfekt – eine vergangene Handlung, die jetzt noch wichtig ist	has been organised · has ever faced · has found
Passiv be + Partizip Perfekt – wichtig ist, was geschieht, nicht wer es tut	will be illustrated · has been organised · be joined

Aussprache, auf die du achten solltest

Der Sprecher verwendet 81 Kurzformen und abgeschwächte Formen, zum Beispiel I'm, we're, they're. Sprich sie in der kurzen Form, so wie du sie hörst.

Die Laute „sh“ und „zh“: intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/, restoration /ɹɛstəˈɹeɪʃən/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/
Lange Wörter – auf die Betonung achten: infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbəl/, intervention /ɪntɚˈvɛnʃən/, ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/, restoration /ɹɛstəˈɹeɪʃən/

Laute, die Deutschsprachigen schwerfallen:

/w/ — mit runden Lippen, nicht wie das deutsche „w“ (/v/): whilst /waɪlst/, woodland /ˈwʊd.lənd/, underway /ʌndəɹˈweɪ/, equation /ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/, webinar /ˈwɛb.əˌnɑː/
Stimmhafter Auslaut — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ am Wortende nicht verhärten: flood /flʌd/, drainage /ˈdɹeɪnəd͡ʒ/, overhead /ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/, woodland /ˈwʊd.lənd/, installed /ɪnˈstɔːld/
/æ/ — offener als „ä“: habitat /ˈhæb.ɪ.tæt/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, asset /ˈæsɛt/

So übst du mit diesem Video

Höre dir das ganze Video einmal an, ohne zu sprechen, und notiere die Wörter, die du nicht kennst.
Beginne mit 0,75-facher Geschwindigkeit, sprich Satz für Satz nach und wechsle zur normalen Geschwindigkeit, sobald es leichtfällt.
Nimm dich auf und vergleiche mit dem Original; achte dabei auf Wörter wie flood, infrastructure, sustainable.

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