Bringing a nature-positive mindset to the water sector
Published on: May 13, 2025
Bryn Jones, Sweco UK’s new Nature-based Solutions Lead, is on a mission to put nature at the heart of how we design and deliver projects. With more than two decades of experience as a landscape architect and environmental assessment coordinator, Bryn believes the industry is at a turning point — where natural systems and traditional infrastructure must work hand in hand to meet the demands of climate resilience.
In this Q&A, he talks about why nature matters in water projects, what’s changing in the industry and how Sweco can lead the way in creating healthier, more resilient environments.
Nature and water are inextricably linked. Building nature into the design process of our water projects improves sustainability, whole-life cost efficiency, resilience to climate change, and wellbeing, reduces pollution and provides a clear route to encouraging community engagement in water management.
Your new role as Nature-based Solutions Lead at Sweco puts nature-positive consultancy at the heart of projects. What does this shift mean in practical terms when it comes to water projects?
Being nature positive is a mindset that everyone can apply to their projects, as well as their everyday lives. In the same way as carbon is becoming a mainstream consideration in project decision making, nature should also be key decision-making factor. Here in the UK, the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain legislation has accelerated this process, and we know that the earlier we consider nature in the project lifecycle, the cheaper and easier it is to deliver nature-positive outcomes.
Nature and water are inextricably linked. Building nature into the design process of our water projects improves sustainability, whole-life cost efficiency, resilience to climate change, and wellbeing, reduces pollution and provides a clear route to encouraging community engagement in water management. That is why we like to talk about the “AND”. With all of our projects considering climate adaptation & resilience AND SuDS AND carbon AND the circular economy AND active travel AND green buildings AND people AND nature.
How do you see green and grey infrastructure working together to create long-term resilience in the water sector? Can you share any examples of where this has been successful?
We will never replace all our traditional water infrastructure with green infrastructure, but we can get the green and grey infrastructure working together in a better way. This will deliver mutual benefits in terms of carbon, energy consumption and, of course, nature.
In @one Alliance at Anglian Water we are working on the delivery of hybrid green-grey solutions to meet the required Phosphorous levels in the water we discharge. The creation of a wetland combined with a smaller traditional tertiary treatment system before we discharge into the watercourse delivers significant benefits compared to the installation of a chemical dosing treatment plant alone. The negative impact on the surrounding community is reduced by the decreased need for tanker visits to deliver chemicals and remove sludge. Energy and carbon consumption are also lowered—and that’s before even considering the positive impact of the wetland on nature.
Many cities are starting to rethink their relationship with water through blue-green infrastructure. What do you think will be the next big trend in urban water resilience?
We need to make SuDS the default drainage solution. It is still seen in some places as a nice to have rather than a need to have, something that is value engineered out at the first sign of difficulty – be that financial or technical. So we need to embed SuDS principles at the heart of all our urban projects.
We need to make Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) the default drainage solution. It is still seen in some places as a “nice-to-have” rather than a “need-to-have”—something that is value-engineered out at the first sign of difficulty, whether financial or technical. To change this, we need to embed SuDS principles at the heart of all our urban projects.
You mentioned in an earlier interview that £3.3 billion of funding has been identified in the eighth Asset Management Period (AMP8), running from 2025 to 2030, for catchment and nature-based solutions. What kind of projects do you see benefiting most from this investment?
The projects that will be delivered by this funding over the next five years vary from river restoration and SuDS programmes, to constructed wetlands to treat wastewater and stormwater overflows, often in conjunction with traditional “grey” solutions. All these projects will deliver benefits to nature. The hope is that this funding will also be a real catalyst to get the sector to focus on true catchment scale solutions—or certainly be the first stepping stone towards that for AMP9 (2030-2035).
The Catchment Pathfinder project that we delivered for Anglian Water was trying to do just that—look at a catchment, understand the challenges within it and then use nature to try and solve those challenges rather than relying on traditional “grey” approaches. That is applying proper systems thinking and focusing on outcomes.
The nature-based solutions cross-border network that we have established has definitely given me inspiration as to what is possible—especially Sweco’s involvement in NL2120. That’s a €150 million, ten-year programme in the Netherlands to mainstream nature-based solutions.
As the climate crisis intensifies, how do you see the role of nature-based solutions evolving in the next 10–20 years, particularly in water management?
The climate crisis presents us the dual issues of either having too much water or not enough at any one time. Nature-based solutions are key to water management by helping to create the resilience we require, be that through large-scale wetlands in rural areas or rain gardens in our city streets. I hope that nature-based solutions become an integral part of climate adaptation and resilience strategies, and thankfully we are already starting to see that.
Hopefully it will drive us to think about water management at a catchment scale, which is a much more effective approach. Using nature-based solutions for water management also delivers co-benefits such as carbon sequestration, so we should start to see greater uptake as organisations turn to nature-led approaches to help offset carbon as well.
Finally, we need governments to implement robust policy that supports the integration of funding mechanisms and the stacking of benefits—biodiversity, carbon, nutrients, and more. This should encourage the involvement of a wider range of stakeholders, which in turn will hopefully accelerate change.
Read more: Bryn Jones to put nature-positive consultancy at the heart of Sweco’s service ecosystem
Nature-positive thinking lies at the heart of the Green Transition – find out more about how a joined-up approach to serving people AND the planet will create a better future for all at https://www.sweco.co.uk/transform/green-transition/
