Environmental
Consultancy
Review and comment on landscape and environmental documents at a preplanning stage to sense check viability and commercial implications of the suggested Landscape and Environmental Management Plans (LEMPs)
Review and or oversee environmental and landscaping projects to ensure,
- Efficiency
- Effectiveness – are there alternative ways of delivering the work to give better results or reduce environmental impact.
- Conformity – is the work being delivered to specification – e.g wrong grass mix being seeded may increase maintenance costs and therefore profitability over the next 40 years.
- How can the site be best prepared for construction to reduce risks & costs.
Value engineering of the landscape and environmental plans. Ecologists and landscape architects sometimes don’t have the practical and on-site experience – great in theory but not always in practice. Millions of pounds saved over the years.
Oversee the landscape maintenance program (O&M) to ensure compliance. If tasks are being omitted this can create increased cost or lead to a reduction of electrical output.
- At point of acquisition or onboarding. Review compliance with LEMPS and provide a gap analysis with work schedule & quote to rectify issues.
- More regular scheduled site visits to flag management shortfalls or opportunities for areas where ecological enhancements could be added and present remedial solutions.
Negotiate with contractors, landowners on how to best manage the sites and work with them to understand planning constraints and factors that they may not be used to complying with.
Through reviewing many hundreds of sites, we have a proven track record delivering significant savings at a CapEX and OpEX level.
Recently a single project review highlighted £910,000 of savings with no negative impact on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) whilst also reducing annual management costs and carbon impact of the site. These sorts of figures and higher are common which has resulted in our service becoming part of the planning and review process with several UK solar investors and O&M companies.
With the development of unsubsidised sites, the re- balancing of OpEx and CapEx spending can be managed through the adjustment and tweaking of the LEMPs to help increase the commercial viability of a scheme.
All of this can be achieved whilst delivering the key goal of delivering a profitable project and Biodiversity Net Gain.
Evaluating the Landscape and ecological elements of a project, whether that be relating to; fencing, drainage, tree planting, meadow or habitat enhancement gives any project its best chance of being delivered in line with specification and expectations. It’s proven that with a practical LEMP review, the ongoing OpEx is more likely to be deliverable and therefore delivered in line with recommendations when it has been ‘sense checked’.
This reduces the risk of contractual issues between the Asset owners, EPCs and O&M contractors and most importantly avoiding disputes with associated costs further down the line.