Green Light for Construction: Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Paves the Way for Sustainable Home Building

  Nathan Roberts

Preliminary Ecological Appraisal; BNG assessment

Client: GSC Grays  

 

 

 

 

Brief:

This project saw our ecologists surveying a site in County Durham for the purpose of producing a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal report (PEA) with Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) baseline assessment. The purpose of this was to assist in gaining planning permission to build residential buildings. The site was composed of a complex mixture of ruderal and scrub vegetation as well as some temporary dwellings, which together with the BNG condition assessments made for a challenging yet rewarding survey experience!

 

 

Areas of work

Sustainable construction; Home-building

Stakeholders

Developers

 

Opportunities

  • To support small-scale residential development while safeguarding important ruderal and scrub plant communities; and
  • To further develop our working relationship with GSC Grays

Challenges

  • Simultaneously carrying out Phase 1 and UKHabs surveys (alongside BNG condition assessments); and
  • To exhaustively survey all ruderal species on site.

 

 

 

 Outcomes

  • Planning permission was granted to the development with the aid of our PEA;
  • Impacts to protected species and wildlife in general were avoided and properly mitigated against; and
  • Time and money were saved for the client, who as a result of the PEA was able to gain planning permission first try.