Rainwater management as a recreational area
The idea of establishing a climate park for surface water management came about because the City of Aalborg wanted to develop a large low-lying area with occasional high groundwater levels and surface water on the ground. The solution was developed as a co-financing project between the City of Aalborg and Aalborg Kloak A/S.
The establishment of a climate park helps to ensure that rainwater can be managed locally, so that it is treated and delayed in the climate park itself, while at the same time surface water from other parts of the city can be led to the climate park as separate sewerage is implemented in the other sub-areas. In this way, the Climate Park combines the technical water management task with a recreational area where biodiversity is in focus.
Envidan has for Aalborg Kloak A/S and Aalborg Municipality, Urban & Landscape Management A/S been responsible for the preparation of planning and detailed project and tender documents for the establishment of eight coupled rainwater basins and regulation of the outlet recipient (Svanholmgrøften) in Sofiendal Enge.
The project was initiated with an outline project that highlighted the need for storage and delay in the basins, and the overall supply points to the basins were determined. In addition, the need to regulate the Svanholm ditch in the stretch between the basins and the Limfjord was discussed.
The Climate Park will eventually receive water from a catchment area of about 340 ha. The construction of the basins in the climate park displaced about 100,000 m³ of soil, of which about 3/4 has been re-incorporated into landscaped hills or as part of the land raising of the surrounding development.
Landscaping, together with the sowing of herbs, among other things, helps to ensure diversity in the area, creating a different expression of fauna and flora depending on the season and changes in water levels.
The Climate Park consists of four dry cascading pools in the Park of Opportunities, feeding into four wet pools. Here, the total volume of detention is approximately 76,000 m³.
The facility has been designed with a particular focus on accessibility for users as well as operational staff. It provides vehicular access to all pools for operating staff and also serves as a pathway for visitors to the area. Spans and bridges have been installed where the paths cross wadis and ditches.
Multi-stakeholder cooperation
The work will be carried out partly in a development area and partly in an existing park area. At the same time, trafficked areas and areas with parallel construction projects will be affected. A large part of the project, therefore, consists of coordination between stakeholders, authorities, and visitors to the area.
The majority of the pipeline work is carried out in dimensions ø1200-ø1600 mm, which requires special solutions for structures and integration into a recreational area.
In addition to hydraulic calculations, regulation of the Svanholm Ditch involves close dialog with authorities and landowners.
Supervision and health and safety coordination
It also includes supervising the execution of the work and coordinating the execution of the work. The project is coordinated in close cooperation with Aalborg Municipality’s operating organization, which will take over the daily maintenance of the facility. Finally, as part of the service, ongoing health and safety coordination is carried out during the design and execution phase.
Future plans for the Climate Park
The climate park with basins, various regulation and overflow structures, paths and access road will be established from 2019-2021. Subsequently, from 2021-2022, the City of Aalborg has supplemented with additional recreational elements in the form of planting, tables and benches, etc. Up to 2030, more and more surface water will be continuously discharged to the climate park as Aalborg Kloak A/S completes separate sewerage of upstream sewer catchments. In 2023, it is also planned to widen the Svanholm ditch, which is the recipient of surface water from the climate park.
