Planning, land use and biodiversity
The planning process is often long and complicated, so we collaborate with many different stakeholders to ensure our developments enhance their surroundings.
The challenge
Our development sites are often in areas of historical or cultural importance, and land is an increasingly scare and costly resource, especially in London, all of which presents unusual – even unique – circumstances that we need to address. Managing the different facets of planning applications requires specialist knowledge but we recognise a lack of young planners coming through. We therefore support the development of the necessary academic and professional skills through our UCL graduate programme.
Planning
Acquiring planning consent can be a long process, and often takes several years. And different stakeholder groups – residents, retailers, councils and organisations such as English Heritage and CABE – can have conflicting views on what is needed or indeed, whether anything is needed at all. Regular communication usually results in a design that enhances its surroundings, so we keep all relevant stakeholders informed of our plans and activities.
Land use and biodiversity
When we plan a new development, we are well aware of our impact on the environment and the people who live in the area. We therefore keep all relevant stakeholders informed of our plans and activities, and commission formal environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on projects of a certain size or type, such as our large commercial schemes. These assessments identify and mitigate any negative environmental impacts at all stages of a project, from choosing the site through to the operation of the finished premises. Many of our London office schemes fall below the size threshold that triggers a statutory EIA but all our schemes over £5 million are subjected to a voluntary EIA.
We evaluate the existing natural conditions of the site before commencing any development scheme and ensure that the project improves the quality of the habitat and the local biodiversity.