SuDS Swale
A broad, shallow vegetated channel that conveys, slows and partly infiltrates surface-water runoff. A workhorse SuDS component that reads as landscape rather than infrastructure; planted swales add habitat and treatment.
Carbon and evidence
Carbon Sink & Ecosystem Services
A living landscape element — a carbon sink and provider of ecosystem services, not a manufactured product. Its value is measured by sequestration and biodiversity, not embodied carbon, and it must never be netted against a product’s A1–A3.
Carbon Sequestration
Not sequestration-led
The primary value here is biodiversity and/or water function, not carbon storage.
Biodiversity Net Gain
grassed swale is low; a planted/wet swale scores higher
Source: Defra Biodiversity Metric 4.0
England requires a 10% Biodiversity Net Gain; distinctiveness is one input to the habitat unit calculation.
Water / SuDS
conveyance with attenuation, some infiltration and pollutant treatment
Source: CIRIA SuDS Manual (C753)
Ecosystem Services
Establishment & Maintenance
grading and any check dams/inlets carry a modest upfront construction carbon cost
Read This Honestly
- •Ecological value scales with planting — a mown grass swale is low.
Products in this category
No manufacturer products are listed in this category yet. You can specify suds swale generically and carry it through to a render and specification as normal.
Specification
- Finish
- Vegetated drainage channel
- Service life
- 60 years