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The Rainwater Management Platform (RMP) will transform The SuDS Manual (C753) into a free to access online resource in 2027. As we work towards its release, we wanted to shed some light on precisely what it will do (and what it won’t).

The SuDS Manual has been the sector’s reference point since 2007. The current edition dates from 2015 and runs to 964 pages.

The RMP will evolve and modernise it rather than simply replace it: updated guidance, free to access online and easier to navigate, with an AI assistant to help you find what you need. It’s being built for a wide range of users, from homeowners to developers, planners, drainage engineers, water companies, local authorities and regulators.

Put “digital platform” and “AI” in the same sentence and it’s natural to start filling in the details. So here’s what the RMP will be when it launches next year, and what it wont.

In short: The RMP will be a free to access online platform for rainwater management guidance, built on The SuDS Manual. It will come with an AI assistant that answers from expert-written content. It won’t offer a downloadable PDF of the full guidance, fully automated design or any guidance written by AI.

It’s an online platform. It isn’t a PDF.

The RMP will be fully digital and interactive. At its core is a Body of Knowledge: structured good practice guidance on rainwater management, including sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), across planning, design, construction and maintenance.

The updated guidance puts a strong emphasis on retrofit and real-world delivery. It will also cover how to meet new standards, with frameworks for both design and approval.

You’ll be able to browse it from a contents list, search it or ask the AI assistant.

There won’t be a downloadable PDF of the full guidance.

What you get instead is guidance that can be updated continuously as standards and practice evolve. You’ll also be able to log in to keep your own favorites, tags and annotations.

The AI finds the guidance. It doesn’t write it.

The platform will include a conversational AI assistant. Ask it a question and it will search the Body of Knowledge, summarise and compile what’s relevant, and direct you to the guidance. Answers will be tailored to your needs and level of expertise.

It won’t generate authoritative content of its own. For good practice guidance it draws solely on the Body of Knowledge, and none of that is written by AI. Where it helps, the assistant will also signpost other vetted industry content and tools.

The Body of Knowledge is written and reviewed by technical experts. Each topic area has its own technical review. The content is also subject to continuous, independent peer review by members of CIRIA’s susdrain Community of Practice. Governance boards and regulators provide oversight.

Prefer to read the guidance yourself? The contents list gives you direct access to the Body of Knowledge.

It’s tailored to your region. It isn’t tailored to your planning authority.

On request, the RMP can tailor guidance to your regional context. It will reference national standards, statutory and non-statutory, from across the UK’s nations.

It won’t localise guidance to planning authority level. Local requirements will still need checking with the authority concerned.

You can’t edit it. You can shape it.

The RMP won’t have a wiki function, so users won’t be able to change the content themselves.

Your experience will still shape the experience though. User testing and feedback are part of how the platform is being built. After launch, it’s designed to keep taking in user feedback and to expand its tools and capabilities over time.

It’s free to access, funded for four years

You won’t have to pay to use the RMP. Funding from the Ofwat Innovation Fund covers four years of free public use. Support is also being provided by UKWIR and the Environment Agency.

Launch is planned for summer 2027

Sign up and we’ll tell you as soon as the platform is ready. You can also choose to hear about workshops and opportunities to share case studies.

Stay connected.

The Rainwater Management Platform is funded by the Ofwat Innovation Fund, with additional funding from UK water Industry Research (UKWIR) and the Environment Agency. The project is led by a core team of Wessex Water, CIRIA, HR Wallingford and Stantec. More than 20 organisations and 50+ individual experts are involved in delivering and governing it.

Tags: guidance, Rainwater Management Platform, RMP, SuDS, sustainable drainage