Urban Greening: Tree Planting and Integrating Nature-Based SuDs
Felim Sheridan, Ireland Branch Committee Member
On Wednesday 4th February, the Ireland Branch hosted a National Conference on Urban Greening: Tree Planting and Integrating Nature-Based Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS).
Paul Singleton from McCloy Consulting Engineers.
Cecil Konijnendijk from the Nature Based Solutions Institute.
We welcomed speakers from Ireland, the UK and Europe to share their experience of and expertise in ways to improve canopy cover and tree planting practices and to explore how nature-based SuDS can be successfully integrated into the built environment.
The event was held at the Teagasc Ashtown Food Research Centre in Dublin. It was the first time the Ireland Branch had used this excellent venue, which has ample parking on site and is served by public transport. We hope it will become a regular venue for branch events.
The day-long event started at 8.15am with registration. We were delighted to have John Parker, the Association’s CEO, to chair the programme and welcome our 110-plus attendees who came from all over Ireland and even further afield (some visitors joined us from the Czech Republic) and from a range of industries including landscape, arboriculture, planning and engineering.
Our first speaker was Jeremy Ward from Kildare County Council who gave a brief outline of the authority’s need for and creation of its SuDS policy. He was followed by Paul Singleton from McCloy Consulting Engineers who is a Chartered Civil/Environmental Engineer, specialising in flood risk assessment, SuDS and environmental assessments. Paul gave a talk about SuDS Guidance for developments from an engineering perspective.
After a brief break, Bob Bray from Robert Bray Associates, who is a landscape architect, spoke on SuDS in the landscape and mature trees. This presentation was followed by Neil Ross, who is a Tree Officer at Stockholm City Council. Neil gave a talk on tree planting projects in Stockholm for both new and existing trees and the integration of SuDS into these schemes.
Following lunch, Cecil Konijnendijk from the Nature Based Solutions Institute, which is an international think tank for the greening of cities, gave a talk on the 3+30+300 principle for healthier and greener cities. The principle states that everyone should be able to see at least three mature trees from their home, all urban areas should have at least 30% tree canopy cover, and everyone should live within 300 metres of a high-quality green space. Cecil also shared a case study.
Neil Ross then set out the details of a case study on integrating SuDS into a tree planting project and using urban soils.
Finally, Paul Singleton and Bob Bray gave a joint presentation on a project at a school in London that they both worked on with the objective of designing a new space which incorporated SuDS and play into a landscape scheme.
The day was finished off with a question-and-answer session that covered some interesting topics and discussions on the subject of SuDS and their integration into our existing landscape and future proposed schemes.
The Ireland Branch would like to thank all of the speakers for their input into the day’s seminar and for making it such a huge success. We would also like to thank all who helped organise the event and in particular to the staff at Teagasc for the use of their excellent venue and ensuring the day ran so smoothly.
This article was taken from Issue 212 Spring 2026 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.