Skip to content

Case

New recreative green-blue area to climate-proof Randers

7. July 2017

Solution provider

WSP

As one of the world’s leading professional services firms, WSP exists to future-proof our cities and environment. We provide strategic advisory, engineering, and design services to clients in the transportation, infrastructure, environment, building, power, energy, water, mining, and resources sectors.

More from WSP

Want to see this solution first hand?

Add the case to your visit request and let us know that you are interested in visiting Denmark

The Stork Field (Storkeengen) in the Vorup neighbourhood is a low lying area in Randers near the river Gudenåen. This makes the area vulnerable to extreme rain events and flooding from the river. Thus the Municipality of Randers and Randes Waste Water Management (Randers Spildevand) has started the climate adaptation project, Project Stork Field.

The project has received DKK 3 million from the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food and will combine climate adaptation and recreation value in the new green-blue area.

“With Storkeengen, we are creating a project that includes the necessary climate proofing for the Vorup neighbourhood. At the same time, the population of Randers will gain access to green areas in a completely new way, meaning that this really is a project where we make a virtue out of a necessity for the benefit of the whole town”, says Frank Nørgaard, chairperson for the Environment and Technical Committee of Randers Municipality.

Storm drains, a new dike and involving the users
In this new project, rainwater from roofs, car parks and streets in Vorup is led down to Storkeengen where the water is purified in wetlands before being released into Gudenåen. During normal rainfalls, the rain is drained away in underground pipes, but during extreme rainfalls, the water can be channelled down specific storm drains.

“Climate proofing is high on the agenda at Randers Spildevand, where we use a lot of resources on separate sewage systems, among other things. For this reason, we are happy to be involved in this project that is contributing to the development of the city to such a high degree, and where we will highlight some of the ideas for climate proofing that are so central to our day-to-day work”, says Peter Christensen, who is the Managing Director of Randers Spildevand.

In accordance with the project plan, a new dike will be built between Storkeengen and Gudenåen. This will ensure a good purification of the rainwater and protect the low-lying parts of Vorup in the event of flooding. Before the diggers start their work in 2018, there will be a hearing process where the citizens in the area, and others with a vested interest, can have their say.

“Project Storkeengen builds extensively on a wish to create climate proofing solutions that also function as new areas for recreation. Therefore, we also need some good ideas as to how to solve this task, so that Storkeengen ends up benefiting the town in every way”, says Frank Nørgaard.

Town and nature
Climate proofing is not just about technical installations.

“Climate proofing is much more than a technical discipline. By thinking about nature, urban areas and involvement in the process, the town gets much more out of the initiative. At the same time, we solve a much more pressing problem, create an attractive urban area and strong communities. It is a strong and visionary project which our team is proud to be a part of”, says Peter Bassø Duus from Orbicon.