SKINT: North Sea Skills Integration and New Technologies

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Floods Directive (FD) have clear goals to improve water quality and to regulate water quantity. The use of appropriate spatial planning processes can address many urban water management problems.
 
SKINT facilitates the implementation of sustainable urban land and water management by improving the integration of water management and spatial planning processes. Ultimately SKINT will contribute to the achievement of the WFD and FD objectives of improving water quality and reducing flood risk in urban areas.
 
The project is being implemented through a series of work packages. And each partner will undertake at least one regional project that will help to demonstrate implementation of the work package deliverables.
 
There are seven SKINT partner organisations within the participating North Sea Region countries (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany and Norway) bringing together a wide range of specialists from public sector and academic disciplines.

Transnational SKINT work packages
The project will be carried out in a series of work packages (WP) meeting the requirements of transnational objectives.

WP 1 – Communication, participation and dissemination
A transnational analysis of communication between stakeholders in multidisciplinary urban land and water management processes, supported by the transnational exchange of professionals. During the SKINT project the partner consortium and their regional and national networks will be trained with the help of a communications consultant. Results will be used for the SKINT water portal and the training programme.

WP 2 – SKINT water portal
The creation of a web-based water portal that will be used during the project as a medium for communication between the partners and their networks and as a permanent web-portal for urban water and land use in Europe. The portal will be complementary to and interact with portals being developed by other projects. After SKINT the water portal will continue to be a dynamic user driven website for future multidisciplinary stakeholders and a source of communication about truly sustainable urban water management.

WP 3 – Placing water earlier in the planning process
A transnational analysis about integrating water in urban land use projects from the start in order to improve the integration of the land and water management processes. The aim is to identify, to enhance and to test the current and emerging water management procedures and solutions available for the integration of land and water management within urban areas.

WP 4 – Selling sustainability
Equipping professionals with procedures and tools to understand and demonstrate the need for more sustainable solutions for urban water management. Drawing on previous work such as NORIS and Urban Water, multidisciplinary discussion is facilitated by a framework for sustainability assessment developed within SKINT and tailored for integrated and inclusive urban land and water management.

WP 5 – Training the champions of change
The creation of a web-based and face-to-face training programme for future water and urban land use professionals. The training will provide detailed and up to the minute knowledge for professionals involved with the built environment, ensuring the needs of integrated land and water planning are better met. The training programme will pay special attention to our findings with respect to multidisciplinary cooperation. The target group for the training will be a range of disciplines involved in water management and spatial planning / development control who as end users will be the champions of sustainability. This training will link to other training programmes on multidisciplinary work.

Regional SKINT projects
Each partner will undertake at least one regional / national but transnationally oriented project that will contribute to the above mentioned transnational activities. The activities of the partners are directly linked to the work packages and will involve the final users of the project results. During the project the regional and national networks will serve as demonstration and implemenation sites for the more theoretical approach of the work packages. Their involvement in the running of the SKINT project will also guarantee follow up of the SKINT results after the project has finished. The results of all activities will be used in the water portal and in the training programme.

Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier – The Netherlands
The improvement of the Watertoets (watertest) instrument to get a better implementation of the water management in urban land use processes.

Delft University of Technology – The Netherlands
The evaluation of the planning process and the design standards of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) to achieve a guideline to prolong the lifespan of water systems.

University of Abertay Dundee – Scotland
The creation of a SUDS for roads training course and embedding current Scottish SUDS policies within Scottish Water to conform with the Water Framework Directive and national legislation.

University of Sheffield and City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council – England
Focussing on specific studies into the interaction between surface and sub surface darainage systems and the harvesting of rainwater in highly impermeable city centre areas.

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences – Germany
The implementation of a project on the preservation of surface waters with respect to the Water Framework Directive.

Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) – Norway
The increase of knowledge and awareness of urban water management problems, risks and challenges and adding the perspective of the way how urban surface water affects ground and surface water quality, groundwater levels and preservation of cultural heritage in urban areas.