NEEDS ANALYSIS
Establishing Needs
Lendlease worked to understand the needs of the community it serves, while meeting the ABC Waters key design guidelines – that is, to detain and treat stormwater runoff for discharge rates management and cleaner water, create communal spaces and areas, and enhance aesthetics and biodiversity of the landscape.
Find out more about the 5W1H pointers below.
The need to create clean waterways and conducive community spaces
The community in Paya Lebar such as the office workers, shoppers, residents it serves and how they might want to use the space
Stormwater management and flood mitigation, better water quality, creation of vibrant community spaces
The need to beautify waterways and intergrate them with the urban landscape. Water is filtered and cleaned before discharged into the canal
Paya Lebar Quarter precinct and its connected waterways
Present and future climate scenarios and community uses were studied
Stormwater management features that could reduce flood risks while being aesthetically pleasing elements of the urban landscape
IDEA CONCEPTUALISATION
Bubbling Ideas
Together with Web Earth, a firm that specialises in environmentally sustainable engineering solutions, Lendlease worked towards managing stormwater quality. It also roped in landscape architects from Grant Associates to ensure that the structures were beautiful as they were functional.
- Reduce the heat island effect, a phenomenon where an urban area is signifcantly warmer than less-industrialised areas due to buildings, roads and vehicles releasing heat into the environment
- Promote biodiversity and beautiful landscape
- Decrease peak stormwater runoff and in turn, reduce soil erosion
- Reduce or avoid the use of water detention tanks (tanks that collect and manage stormwater runoff during rain) to minimise installation and maintenance costs, as well as to maximise space
- Bring the community closer to the water and enabling an active lifestyle in a pleasant environment
Highly porous surfaces that allow rainwater, precipitation and surface runoff to pass through them into the ground below. Permeable pavements include open-pore pavers, concrete, or asphalt with stone reservoirs underneath. Runoff is stored in the reservoirs to be drained into the soil below or discharged via a drain tile.
Roofs that are partially or completely covered with vegetation, to minimise the heat island effect, reduce energy costs with heat insulation, stormwater absorption, slow down runoff, promote biodiversity and more. They may also come with drainage and irrigation systems.
Shallow, broad and vegetated channels in the ground that temporary store (and sometimes absorb) runoff, and then transport them to a storage or drainage system.
Elements that reduce the volume of surface runoff and improve water quality, for example, in the rain gardens that can serve as storage elements. They also detain remaining stormwater in drainage cell tanks to slow down the stormwater discharge rate, especially during heavy storms.
DEVELOPMENT
How Our Plans Flowed
Lendlease, Web Earth and Grant Associates worked to integrate ABC Waters design features innovatively into the landscape. The idea was to build an “ecological civilisation” – where development and environmental conservation come together while promoting a harmonious union between people and nature – in the precinct.
These features were proposed and adopted:
Rain Gardens
Three rain gardens were designed to filter, detain and trap stormwater runoff from about 31% of the four-hectare development, with flood mitigation and clean water as the overarching aims. Some areas, with their dense vegetation and soil areas, were planned to serve as natural filters to sieve out impurities, improve the water quality and slow down runoff before discharging them into public drains, canals and reservoirs. Some garden beds were specially designed to filter stormwater runoff from surrounding areas and stormwater pipes, and integrated with a drainage cells tank underneath that provides temporary storage for rainwater, to control peak flow discharge and mitigate flooding.
The rain gardens were to be easily accessible by the public, and feature seating spaces and recreational areas such as the kids’ play area and outdoor refreshment area.
