Point vs line drainage and reduced excavation

ACO Qmax line drainage allows simplification over point drainage solutions. In a recent installation at a major distribution hub in Bolton, a proposed point drainage system complete with gullies, pipe connectors and silt trap chambers was able to be condensed into a single large capacity ACO Qmax channel running down the centre of the car park.

This not only reduced significant potential excavation, as well as associated cart away and fill material costs, but simplified a complicated proposal into a resilient design where the area of the channel could also be utilised for surface water storage, without the need for a separate system.

• Find out more about the benefits of ACO Qmax

Optimising and designing your own drainage runs

Keeping the number of drainage runs to a minimum is often a challenge of effective drainage design. In the Mansfield Brick manufacturing plant twenty interlinked runs totalling over 1000 metres of Qmax 225, 350 and 600, all fitted with a heavy duty edge rail, receive run-off from across all the handling and stock areas. The high capacity of ACO Qmax allowed the number of runs to be reduced and a very shallow fall pavement to be cast; which met the the requirement to keep the pavement in the stocking yard as level as possible.

ACO have a free to use hydraulic design software, ACO QuAD,
that allows you to optimise your drainage runs with the various sizes of the Qmax system. Click below to find out more.

• ACO QuAD hydraulic design software

It is generally accepted that the way line is utilised will critically influence the flow of any landscape, not least in the urban environment. The long 2 metre lengths of ACO Qmax's edge rail can complement the flow of any landscape while masking a high capacity underneath. 

At the Cutty Sark Gardens, situated in historic Greenwich, 10mm inlet edge rails were installed within the natural breaks between the granite paviours, forming a virtually invisible solution and enabling an easier design with the surfacing material.

Qmax channels are now available with ACO’s new Q-Guard composite rail to add to the existing Q-Guard in this material. Q-Guard comes with added HeelGuard inlets suitable for pedestrian areas, for use in a wide range of drainage applications with A 15 – F 900 load class.

• Tough and durable composite construction
• Accurate vertical and horizontal alignment
• Will not rust / UV stable / flame resistant
• Available in black and grey composite

To see how ACO Qmax rail choices look in different applications try our Surface + Grating Visualiser:

• Surface + Grating Visualiser

ACO Qmax technical product files

The ACO Qmax system provides optimum surface water drainage and attenuation for a wide range of infrastructure, industrial, hard landscaped and other SuDS applications.

• Available in sizes: 150, 225, 350, 550, 700 and 900
• Supports all Load Classes up to and including F 900

• ACO Qmax technical product files