IMPROVING ECOLOGICAL VALUE VIA BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN

Miles Haslam, of our Environmental department, on the importance of biodiversity net-gain.

Following Chancellor Philip Hammond’s pledge to implement legislation requiring developers to deliver biodiversity net-gain through all projects in his 2019 Spring Statement, our ecologists are attending a series of training events this year.

These include the CIEEM Spring Conference 2019 on Biodiversity Net Gain from Policy to Practice, CIEEM Biodiversity Net Gain Through Development, CIRIA Biodiversity Net Gain: Principles and Guidance webinar & Calculating and Using Biodiversity Units.

Many of our clients already following a biodiversity net-gain approach voluntarily, recognising the value of additional benefits such as resilience to climate change, wellbeing, and creating a good place to live and work. 

It will be interesting in 2019 and beyond to see how these principals will be delivered through the project life cycle and what long term environmental and social benefits they will bring.

We are looking forward to professional bodies providing consistency for users when calculating biodiversity net gain, including the anticipated British Standard update and guidance from Natural England, and we welcome the CIRIA guidance published earlier this year.