The Buildings Research Establishment (BRE) regulates a suite of environmental assessment tools which enables developers and Housing Associations to measure and improve the design and specification of their schemes in relation to a nationally recognised rating are applied by licensed assessors. The ratings system gives an award of “Pass”, “Good”, “Very Good” or “Excellent” to the developer, based on the environmental characteristics of the whole development. BRE offers guidance on assessing the following types of scheme:

EcoHomes;

BREEAM for Offices;

Industrial BREEAM;

BREEAM Retail; and

BREEAM for Schools.

Ecology and Land Use is one of the seven categories which may be considered by the developer to evaluate their proposals. The categories which may be assessed to accumulate credits are optional and will depend on the specific market and development aspirations of the Housing Association or developer. A recent study showed that, in order to obtain the maximum award for the lowest cost-inputs, only a small selection of the seven available categories needed to be assessed. It highlighted that if a “Very Good” or “Excellent” award was desired, issues related to Ecology and Land Use would need to be addressed (A Guide to EcoHomes, Jenny Wain, Sustainable Homes 2003).

RSK Carter Ecological Limited has a long standing relationship with the construction and building industry, working all over the UK for a range of clients and scales of project. All our staff are members of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) - a BRE requirement for a registered Ecological Consultancy.

We carry out tailor made ecological surveys and assessments for licensed BREEAM and EcoHomes Assessors. All our surveys are geared specifically towards providing the precise information to carry out the assessment, and our experienced ecologists will give immediate advice on how more credits might be awarded, prior to finalising our reports. We work frequently with project landscape architects to advise on incorporation of native species and features to enhance biodiversity into a planting scheme without disrupting the fundamental design philosophy.

We also offer a preliminary assessment service which provides a brief overview of how likely a client’s scheme is to get credits in the Ecology and Land Use category. In summary, our approach to carrying out BREEAM assessments is as follows

Provide preliminary advise on how likely it is that Credits will be achieved.

Carry out a carefully tailored ecological survey in order to produce a Survey Report.

Have discussions with client or landscape architects about any existing landscape plans and how these might be adapted to increase number of native species introduced at the site, and therefore increase the number of Credits to be awarded.

Provide a short report summarising the outcome of the Ecology Assessment and the total number of Credits awarded. We offer a swift and cost-effective service based on sound ecology, and a strong focus on achieving maximum Credits at any particular site.