ABOUT
Spring Collective is an integrated design & environmental engineering consultancy dedicated to reimagining how water shapes our cities, landscapes and communities.
With years of experience delivering nature-based flood adaptation in complex urban environments, award-winning SuDS designer and civil engineer Marcus Gayle founded Spring Collective to maximise the value of flood risk investment.
We combine technical excellence, deep sector insight and a trusted delivery network to unlock high-impact projects that might otherwise be lost within a fragmented system. Our approach is both community-centred and catchment-scale — connecting local interventions into coordinated programmes and aggregating benefits to unlock funding, accelerate delivery and embed flood resilience within everyday public-realm investment.
Whether a single-street SuDS retrofit or a catchment-wide programme, our network of trusted specialists create nature-based solutions that restore water cycles, reduce flood risk, and bring greenery and biodiversity back into urban spaces.
Over the past century, the UK has lost
97% of wildflower meadows and 90% of wetlands,
leading to a collapse in biodiversity and leaving
communities more vulnerable to
environmental risks.
Growing up in Lewisham, Marcus Gayle first connected with urban blue spaces along the River Ravensbourne — walking, spending time by the water, and finding calm in places that felt distinct from the surrounding urban sprawl. In the London environment, streams, ponds, and wetlands became rare spaces of curiosity and connection to nature, shaping his belief that water should not simply be conveyed and consumed, but used to create healthier, more engaging places for people and wildlife.
That early connection led Marcus into civil and environmental engineering, where for more than a decade he has delivered nature-based flood adaptation projects across London. An award-winning SuDS designer and Chartered professional, he has helped transform grey urban corners into rain gardens, daylight culverts into wetlands, restore rivers and streams, and bring SuDS into schools and neighbourhoods where communities can experience water differently.
Today, Marcus leads Spring Collective, working with communities and partners to build connected networks of SuDS that respond to climate change, strengthen biodiversity, and create places future generations can enjoy as part of everyday life.
Awards & Accolades
2024
Susdrain Award – Winner – Community SuDS: Thornville Street Rain Gardens
Susdrain Award – Highly Commended – Regeneration and Retrofit of Public Buildings: SuDS for Schools
2023
London Tree and Woodland Award – Trees for Nature and Climate: SuDS for Schools Lewisham
2022
Susdrain Award – Overall winner – Moore Brook Green Link
Susdrain Award – Regeneration and Retrofit Large Scale – Four Hills Housing Estate
UK Rivers Prize – Albany Park River Restoration Project
