Highways drainage forum coming up

Stakeholders in the highways industry are being asked to attend an event in Birmingham on Wednesday February 8 where Highways England and British Water will explore new methods for tackling drainage problems.

The Innovation Exchange will be the first collaboration between the two bodies and focus on the design, building and maintenance of drainage systems.

Claire Minett from Highways England’s Regional Investment Programme said: “Highways England is looking at new products and technologies with a view to improving efficiency. The idea is to take a fresh look and to see if there are new ways of doing things that could be adopted to help improve the way the highways are designed, built and maintained.”

The new technology being considered includes prefabricated manholes, attenuation solutions, pipe materials and innovative methods of treating environmental pollution.

Highways England is investigating new methods of tackling drainage solutions, such as off-site manufacture of components such as manholes, attenuation solutions and catchpits.

Highways England’s senior drainage engineer Andy Bailey said “Our experiences participating in British Water Groups, such as the Sustainable Water Management Focus Group, attracted us to British Water Innovation Exchanges as a time and resource efficient route to engage with as broad a range of the industry as possible.”

More details on the forum can be found here.