CASE STUDIES Return to list of case-studies Walking Towards Water-Savings - Country park sets standards for others with new water-saving technologies Thorndon Country Park, Brentwood, Essex Thorndon Country Park, run by Essex County Council, is a popular 500-acre park that is home to a host of rare butterflies, birds and other wildlife, and incorporates ancient woodland, a nature trail, three small lakes, and a deer park dating back to the 15th century. Thorndon Park visitors centre, which was built using some of the storm-fallen timber from the 1987 hurricane, has upwards of 100,000 visitors every year, so when the toilet facilities had to be replaced it was imperative that they were as water-efficient as possible. Essex County Council sought funding for the project from the LTCS scheme, and was awarded £15,000 to use on replacing and modernising existing facilities at Thorndon Park. The Landfill Tax Credit Scheme has been running since 1996, and enables landfill site operators to donate up to 6.8% of their landfill tax liability to environmental projects in return for a 90% tax credit. The extra funding enabled Les McCadden, who was responsible for managing the project, to give environmental considerations a high priority, when looking at replacements for the facilities. As well as installing Airflush® waterless urinals, supplied by Green Building Store, five water-efficient ES4 WCs, designed by water conservation specialists Elemental Solutions, were also installed. The standard taps in the washroom were also replaced with water-saving spray taps, which restrict water flow to 1.7 litres per minute, unlike standard taps, that use an average of 10 litres of water per minute. Elemental Solutions, also designed a filter bed for wastewater at Thorndon Country Park, which enabled wastewater at the site to be recycled. The previous urinals had also been waterless, but their performance had been disappointing. Les McCadden said "The existing urinals were waterless, but they were also an incredibly poor design, and were difficult to maintain; this of course led to a perpetual stench which was impossible to remove. Since the installation of Airflush® waterless urinals, we have had no odour to endure at all, and keeping them clean is very easy. I would thoroughly recommend the Airflush® urinals and the ES4 WCs to any local authority, and consider them to be the most effective way to minimise water consumption in high-usage facilities." Client: Essex County Council, Website: www.essexcc.gov.uk Suppliers: Green Building Store (Airflush urinals, ES4 WCs and water-saving taps), Tel: 01484 461705, www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk Project Manager: Les McCadden, Email: thorndon.country.park@essexcc.gov.uk Consultants: Elemental Solutions, Tel: 01981 540728, www.elementalsolutions.co.uk For more information on the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme: Website, www.ltcs.org.uk