Lapinus

How often do we see roads and streets turning into ponds after heavy rainfalls and overflooded sewage systems? Whether the result of climate change or the consequence of ill-adapted infrastructure (or both), this is a growing challenge for most cities. Yet, rainwater is a resource.

Lapinus is part of the Rockwool Group and makes high-performing stone wool products for various applications that surround us – from passenger car disc pads to acoustic fences. Its latest innovation, Rockflow, is a sustainable solution to significantly reduce and prevent pluvial flooding in urban areas. Placed under the road, it enables to collect rainwater and re-use or infiltrate it into the soil.

However, Lapinus needed support: How to explain to local authorities that pluvial flooding prevention is the way forward? How to explain to local authorities that pluvial flooding prevention is the way forward? Not only because of climate change, but also because water management policies are evolving for the better?

Hague supported Lapinus in informing its clients across Europe about the existing and upcoming developments in EU policies for flood management. We thus carried out an in-depth assessment of the EU regulatory framework on water, of the ambitions of the European Green Deal, and of their impacts on national and local decisions for pluvial flood management. Beyond that, we used our network among the EU institutions, national ministries (in the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK) and the water sector to paint a clear picture of how the EU intends to encourage public authorities to step up efforts in urban rainwater management – including through funding for Research & Innovation.

Together with Lapinus, we turned this intelligence into an easily understandable infographic demonstrating the influence of changing EU water and environmental policies on local decision-making and public procurement requirements.