Water sensitive urban design for industrial sites and precincts
The Victorian Stormwater Action Plan, funded by the Victorian State Government, has coordinated and resourced many initiatives for stormwater management in recent years. The benefits that Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) can provide in regard to stormwater management and the protection of receiving environments are becoming well recognised in the Port Philip Bay catchment. The incorporation of WSUD into larger urban residential development sites is now becoming more commonplace in Melbourne, however barriers currently exist to the wider uptake of WSUD as part of development proposals and as part of council infrastructure works. Among these barriers is a clear demonstration that WSUD can be adopted on industrial sites and within industrial precincts.
Responding to this, the City of Kingston, funded by the Victorian Stormwater Action Plan and advised by EPA and Melbourne Water, engaged Ecological Engineering to investigate the suitability and feasibility of applying WSUD on industrial sites and within industrial precincts. The City of Kingston contains areas of ‘greenfield’ industrial development and existing industrial areas that include particularly problematic older areas with small sites. The investigative project provides the knowledge and tools for selecting and specifying WSUD initiatives in these various industrial contexts and gives direction for regulatory and planning controls and engagement programs that will be essential components of strategies.
The paper describes how, through the use of case studies of existing development, the characteristics of good site design were identified and how this has beneficial implications when selecting measures necessary for the treatment of stormwater runoff. A key observation is that if work areas can be disassociated from stormwater runoff and discharge from the site, then simple, generic, effective and easily managed WSUD site plans are possible. Retrofits to attain these characteristics of good site design will, for many of the cases studies, be difficult or expensive and will rely on the opportunity presented upon the eventual redevelopment of the property. Interim responses are necessary and the case studies therefore considered scenarios featuring both interim and long term site strategies.
The paper illustrates the performance of the case studies subjected to both interim and long term strategies and identifies factors such as planning requirements, regulatory control and engagement programs that are necessary for their implementation. Through discussion of the feasibility of successful management of both the interim and long term strategies and the influence of issues such as change in tenancy and specialized maintenance, the limitations of available interim responses are highlighted. The paper describes the relationship between the site WSUD plans and the planning of WSUD initiatives within streetscape and open space in the form of a ‘local precinct WSUD plan’. Through the preparation of precinct plans for future use by Kingston Council, the interaction and influence between sites and precinct initiatives was able to be investigated.
The paper provides a description of the project’s products incuding:
1. The features and essential characteristics of the project’s precinct plans.
2. Checklists for developers and Authorities for;
Good site design
The assembly of site treatment strategies
3. Checklists for occupiers / owners for;
Work practices
Site treatment strategies
4. Specific direction on the further development of planning controls and regulatory controls to support the implementation of good site design (separation of work areas from the discharge of stormwater from a site).
The paper describes the project’s interaction with other projects and how the further development of planning controls and regulatory control will be resourced outside of this project.