The house in Juniper Road, owned by Southend City Council (SCC) as part of its social housing stock, has been installed with as many water saving devices as we can think of!
The retrofit of the property includes providing rainwater capture, storage, treatment and re-use equipment that will reduce the ‘Blue Footprint’ of the house. Rainwater harvesting and re-use techniques not only improves flood resilience but also reduces mains water usage thus improving drought resilience.
Measure installed include:
Living green roofs used on the bike sheds to reducing surface water runoff as well as creating new and varied habitats.
The Hydraloop device cleans greywater from shower, bath, and washing machine, as well as condensation water from tumble dryer, heat pump, and air conditioning. It can be reused for toilet flushing, washing machines, garden irrigation, and topping up swimming pools.
A climate resilient garden, designed to be colourful, low maintenance with low watering needs and year round visual appeal and interest. The majority of plants in the garden have been chosen because they are pollinator friendly and encourage the health and population of pollinator insects which are fundamentally important for nature and the production of flowers, fruits and vegetables.
Hydrorock – a natural aquifer system. Made from natural mineral wool, the blue system attenuate and infiltrate rainwater. The green system also attenuate and infiltrate rainwater, but they also irrigate the plants in the raingardens above, reducing the need for watering using mains water. At Juniper Road we have also installed green and blue systems throughout the outside areas, they collect the water from the front section of the roof and porch, all systems are cleverly linked to provide resilience from surface water flooding and provide a water source for plants in the gardens.
We have also installed a large green system in the highway verge, this system is taking water from the surface water system to improve flood resilience during rainfall and storing the water in the upper layers for plants to use throughout the year.
A large slimline water butt collects water from the back section of roof and stores the water for gardening or cleaning activities. The water butt is also connected to the Hydraloop system so any excess water within the house can be stored for further re-use.
