On winning the overall SuDS awards the Greener Grangetown team commented:

Ian Titherington, Cardiff City Council: “Receiving this recognition from CIRIA/Susdrain, enables us to push for the best SuDS design on all viable schemes. As a Civil Engineer, it is a privilege to work on & help deliver such projects.”

Chris Ellis, Arup: “So many amazing people have helped make this project a success. I'm really proud of what we've achieved and it’s great to be recognised by CIRIA Susdrain for this. I hope projects like Greener Grangetown become the norm, rather than the exception.”

Martyn Evans, Natural Resource Wales: “It was an honour to accept two CIRIA awards on behalf of the Greener Grangetown project team at the 2020 SuDS Awards. I’ve been part of the project since 2012 and the aim from the very beginning was to design an innovative, sustainable and future-proof drainage system that could create a healthy and resilient local environment for generations to come."

"Little did I know that a presentation of the ‘Nature’s Way’ video at Coventry University in 1996 would change my working and waking life so dramatically.

I have always been entranced by water in the landscape and the wildlife found  in and around wet places. Here was a chance to integrate my pleasure from water into my professional life.

I have been very fortunate in the support I have had from colleagues, particularly in the early days for help with ‘engineering’ elements of SuDS and from CIRIA with opportunities for learning and training at the same time.

The creation of beautiful and useful spaces that meet the design criteria for SuDS has always been my aspiration and I hope this lovely award will encourage others to follow this path.

Thank you CIRIA and all my friends in SuDS."

"I am honoured to be crowned 2020 SuDS Champion given the calibre of the shortlist, so thanks to all who voted for me.

This award recognises the huge steps made across London delivering multi-beneficial SuDS and is therefore as much for those hard working officers across London without whom these projects would not have been delivered.

With tough times ahead as we recover from this pandemic, the days, months and years will offer significant opportunities to deliver more and more SuDS. We will need to share knowledge, share experiences but most importantly support each other as resources reduce. Susdrain, the ASA and LoDEG will increasingly be at the fore for guidance, focus and direction.

Now more than ever we need to champion the numerous multiple benefits of SuDS, we need to stand up, be stronger, be vocal, be passionate, be sheer bloody minded, to ensure that SuDS are the norm not the exception."