This is a two-day event which will run at the following times:

10th October 2022 - 9:30am-12:30pm, with a break.

11th October 2022 - 9:30am-12:30pm, with a break.

Please note that this event will not be recorded but a presentation handout will be made available to delegates after the event. Once you have booked onto the event an invitation to the Zoom meeting will be sent 24 hours before the meeting commences with instructions on how to log on. 

Wendy Allen is an experienced award-winning UK garden designer who specialises in the design and build of creative, biodiverse SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems), including rain gardens. Her garden ‘The Rain Chain’ won both a Gold medal and the ‘Best Sustainable Garden’ award at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2009, and her projects feature in national press, GLA’s ‘SuDS in Schools’, and the ‘UK Rain Garden Guide’.

Climate change means heavier rain events and longer periods of drought. Biodiverse nature-based solutions, green infrastructure and sustainable surface water management should be the starting point and the end goal for every garden design.

By maximising the opportunities at each stage of the rainwater pathway, designers and contractors can optimise designs and educate clients about the functions every new or retrofit domestic garden can contribute to our ecosystems and wider water environment.

Wendy Allen shares all you need to know to get creative and have fun with rainwater. Learn how to prioritise this free, precious and increasingly threatened resource.

This is not about what we’ve always done in a garden. This is about what we need to do next.

The workshop will cover:

• An overview of how SuDS Regulations vary across the UK, and where to find relevant SuDS resources.
• Awareness of how rivers are affected by impermeable surfaces.
• A design approach to put rainwater first.
• How to calculate rainfall volumes, storage and infiltration rates.
• An understanding of permeable surfaces.
• A tool kit of how to design and build small-scale rain gardens and rain planters, and the confidence to include them in designs.
• Knowledge of soil infiltration and suitable plants.
• A resources list for further reference.

It will be an interactive session which will include time for attendees to discuss and ask questions about common rainfall/flooding issues.

This workshop is for all levels of garden designers, landscape designers and landscape architects who wish to delve deeper into calculating and understanding rainfall to benefit people, nature and the environment.

You will need:

• A computer or laptop to log on to Zoom
• Your preferred form of note taking
• A calculator, while not a requirement, may be useful