Greenwich Wharf

Once a derelict and unusable site of old warehouse buildings and hard surfaces, Greenwich Wharf is now a vibrant, inviting and valuable piece of real estate, featuring a mix of affordable homes, exclusive apartments, restaurants, a hotel, leisure centre and commercial/retail premises for local businesses.

The development wasn’t designed purely for financial gain. The site required careful design consideration to mitigate any flood risks. With a scheme of this size, especially riverside, rainwater management needed to be of paramount importance, and Polypipe CGU’s design partner, the Environmental Protection Group [EPG], worked with the developer and their design team to devise a system that not only made space for water within clever podium decks, but also helped to inject important green infrastructure, bringing with it a sense of community, wellbeing and calm to the new environment.

The system comprises of 6,900m² of Polypipe CGU’s Permavoid 85 to ensure that stormwater run-off is captured at source and stored for attenuation and re-use. With the addition of 400m² of Permafoam 85, the system is also capable of irrigating planters above.

With the modular nature of the Polypipe CGU geocellular systems, green-roofs were created and connected to lower level podium decks, making valuable use of the space available to store more water, while making places for a more pleasant environment where people can relax and enjoy whilst attracting wildlife and helping to clean and cool the surrounding air.

27,600 Permavoid units were used in total. These were ideal for the shallow environment that was available to install the system and, because they are lighter in weight than traditional materials, also with a high void ratio, they negated the need for heavy concrete basement tanks. Despite its light-in-weight properties, Permavoid is exceptionally strong, allowing car park amenities and maintenance vehicle traffic above, while clever water management continues below.

By using the Polypipe CGU Permavoid geocellular system, the site is able to sustain its own green infrastructure, while controlling the discharge of stored water at a controlled rate, providing Greenwich Wharf with a healthier, more resilient future.