Porous Paving for Water Sensitive Urban Design from StoneSet

StoneSet's porous paving tree surrounds are contributing to an effective Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) plan for Australia's future urban developments. Architects may not be aware that almost every state in Australia is scrambling to regenerate a declining urban canopy by implementing their respective forms of tree-planting incentives for local government. In New South Wales it is the '5 Million Trees by 2030' initiative, in Western Australia it's the 'Tree Canopy Grant' program, and in Victoria it's the Melbourne 'Urban Forestry Grants' strategy.

It's with good reason too - there's been a barrage of concerning and embarrassing media reports over the last year leaving Australians all quite literally red-faced;

• Studies from the BoM show that 2019 was Australia's hottest year and 2020 was Australia's 4th hottest on record.
• Sydney school children are being exposed to play yard pavement temperatures as high as 60 degrees.
• Poor development regulation in Adelaide resulting in an alarming loss of trees and inadequate public appreciation for their benefits.
• Melbourne's western frontier of greenfield development sees housing footprints max out blocks, which leave no room for trees, and with young families set to move into severe mediteranean-climate heat islands.

Capitals in some states have less urgency to address the issue, with Brisbane reportedly being 'one of the greenest cities with 54 per cent green cover in 2020', and Hobart reported as 'the only city to increase its green cover between 2013 and 2020 - but even then, it was only by 1 per cent'. However, the extent to which Brisbane's relatively high annual rainfall and Hobarts relatively lower urban development rates play a part is debatable.

Rapid urban development and global carbon emissions are undoubtedly key contributors to these problems.

We here at StoneSet respect the complex nature of these urban greening problems facing the construction industry and government urban planning & development strategy. We are fortunate to be installers of a legitimately 'green' and innovative product solution for such complex environmental problems. StoneSet's porous paving uses polyurethane (rather than cement) to bind aggregate which represents the latest evolution in paving.

StoneSet is unique in its hard-surface paving category with a safe, durable, naturally decorative stone and a completely porous surface. Their porous paving allows more water to penetrate down to urban tree roots and facilitate growth of larger, healthier canopies which can cut in half the number of 40 degree days people effectively experience over summer. Not only is the 'bound stone' nature of StoneSet more effectively free draining than other porous pavement materials, but its low-energy and low-water (dry dust screening) quarry process puts it at polar environmental opposites to common paving alternatives such as cement or clay fired pavers.

High carbon emissions from concrete production is a combination of 'simply no alternative way to produce calcium oxide from limestone', and the fact 'concrete is the most popular material in the world and cement is the primary binder used in concrete'. This is why cement production alone contributes a staggering 8 percent of global carbon emissions annually. Thankfully, your decision to resurface with StoneSet means you use Australian-quarried quartz and granites. These feldspar minerals make up a massive 50% of the earth's crust. That means sustainable resource extraction by companies governed to deliver safe working conditions and sustainable wages.

Further to all this, for over 13 years StoneSet has been installing across Australia and we are proud to have resurfaced plus repurposed a staggering 52,000sqm of existing concrete or hard surface paving!

If you take the depth of all this existing concrete at an average 100mm thick concrete slab, StoneSet has prevented the removal of over 5,000 cubic meters of concrete. Given 1 cubic meter of concrete equals 2.5 tonne, and that StoneSet has effectively prevented an additional 5,000 cubic meters of concrete being produced to replace the old, StoneSet has enabled Australia to avoid 25,000 tonnes of heavily carbon emitting concrete being either produced or sent to landfill/recycling. And with the 'relatively minimal' 16mm StoneSet topping used to resurface this concrete, 25% of that 832 cubic meter volume was water porous voids, meaning only 70% or 582 cubic meters of quarried stone. In short 1,500 tonne of ubiquitous feldspar has prevented a combined destruction and creation of some 25,000 tonnes of environmentally unfriendly concrete!

It's new building technologies like StoneSet that provide today's built environment leaders - architects, builders, and local governments - a means of solving Australia's complex development problems. Porous paving represents a step-forward; It is a modern and vital part of integrated, water conscious building that replaces non-porous hard surfaces.

In action, porous paving provides vital relief to sewage systems and instead channels rainwater into the ground. This makes it an excellent green solution for smart urban areas. Just some of the ideal applications for porous paving include playgrounds, footpaths, sidewalks, in verges, tree pits, private and commercial gardens, edging for various paving materials, and many more.

StoneSet Australia, leading suppliers of WSUD compliant building materials in the country, works with local councils who are receptive to water sensitive urban design in their district. Find out more about StoneSet's porous paving for Water Sensitive Urban Design by visiting www.stoneset.com.au today.