Skjæveland receives financial support for the development of a multi-stage cleaning concept for road water. Multiblocks receive financial support for the further development of urban detention roofs.
The Research Council of Norway is the most important research policy advisor for the government and the ministries and allocates NOK 9 billion annually to research and innovation. The Research Council’s goal is to increase the quality of Norwegian research and to promote innovation and sustainability.
The applications for funds from the Research Council are of high quality. More than 60 percent of the projects achieve an assessment that makes them eligible for support. In total, businesses applied for support to 133 projects and almost NOK 1.3 billion.
Out of these, a total of 49 projects will receive up to NOK 475 million from the Research Council’s user-driven innovation arena (BIA). It is the business sector itself that takes the initiative to the projects. Four of the projects that received funding from the Research Council in this round, are in Rogaland. Skjæveland and Multiblock are two of these.
In addition, the Research Council allocates just over NOK 100 million to competence projects, where the research environments will produce important knowledge that is relevant to the business sector. The purpose is to finance innovation-oriented research projects that will provide high-value creation both for the companies that participate and for society.
Innovation support for road water cleaning concept
The overall idea for the project from Skjæveland is to expand the portfolio of solutions to be used for the cleaning of road water. In the project, a new multi-step cleaning concept will be developed, based on combined detention and sedimentation basin. It includes new compact front-end and polishing steps for the best possible cleaning effect.
An important element in the project is a facility, which was established last year on the property of Multiblokk in connection with the construction of county road 505. Here, the pollution from road traffic must be removed from the runoff from the new road before the water is led into the nearest river.
Skjæveland is the owner of the project, Storm Aqua will be the project manager for the group of companies and organizations behind the application.
– Our purpose is to be a valuable resource and contributor to solve the challenges and tasks of today and tomorrow.
The attention to runoff from road has increased in recent years, and last year the Norwegian Public Roads Administration tightened the requirements for cleaning. Therefore, we believe that the need to clean road water will increase. We have products and knowledge, and we want to contribute to further development, explains Egil Lillebø, who is the President of the Skjæveland Gruppen.
– We put considerable resources into innovation and therefore we greatly appreciate the recognition from the Research Council, he adds.
Unrealized opportunities on the roof
The overall idea for Multiblokks project is to develop and establish a new toolbox for planning and designing blue-grey and blue-green roofs. The toolbox addresses water and drainage, technical and building technical aspects, as well as comprehensive risk assessments. Multiblokk is the owner of the project, while Storm Aqua will be the project manager.
The project is based on an urban detention roof that has been developed as part of the research project Klima 2050.
– It is fully possible to move the outdoor space up to the rooftop and establish attractive areas for recreation and use, in combination with infrastructure that delays and drains the stormwater, Rune Egeland describes. He is the general manager of Multiblokk.
– We are certain this is an interesting aspect for owners and builders in the years to come. We want to ensure that such roofs have a long-term and robust function. Therefore, it is important to know as much as possible about the function of the roof and the technical aspects of handling the stormwater. The support from the Research Council will help us achieve this, emphasizes Egeland.
Important contribution from the Research Council
Storm Aqua was established in 2015 and aims to become an important supplier of competence for practical storm water solutions.
– We believe there is a need to use the available space on the roofs and that this need will grow in the years to come. The reason is obvious; we live and work closer together, limited space is available on the ground and the climate is changing, explains Per Møller-Pedersen, who is the general manager of Storm Aqua.
We also need to assemble and develop a toolbox that can solve several tasks in the field of water treatment. The recognition and support from the Research Council will help us well ahead with the development of the tools for cleaning road water and delaying the runoff from new urban space on the roofs, he says.