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Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Consultants

As a leading multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental consultancy, Sweco covers all aspects of EIAs for project planning and development. We combine local presence with global reach to deliver innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions.

What is an Environmental Impact Assessment?

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a survey or audit that identifies the effects on the environment a development could have. The assessment should be carried out at the earliest opportunity to highlight implications for natural habitats, surrounding communities and wider area ecosystems. Ultimately, an EIA report will provide decision-makers with valuable, actionable information that in turn will allow authorities to consider consent more thoroughly and holistically.

At Sweco we have moved beyond the traditional EI model and – alongside wider Environmental Consultancy and ecological solutions– employ a Liveability Impact Assessment approach, which determines how a project will influence how people/animals/flora live in the development’s local area, identifying positive and negative elements and relayed back to our clients in a clear (digital) way that will improve projects socially as well as environmentally.

1. EIA Lead Co-ordination

  • Project management of all EIA stages
  • Integration of EIA with project design team and other professional advisors
  • Preparation of EIA documentation including EIA reports
  • Integration of EIA with consenting regimes (e.g. planning, marine licensing, energy consenting)

2. Sustainability Appraisal

  • Appraisal of policies, plans and programmes
  • Creation of plans and strategies
  • Project management of all stages of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
  • Preparation of SEA documentation including SEA environmental reports
  • BREEAM and CEEQUAL assessments and assurance
  • Ecosystem services and natural capital evaluation
  • Sustainable design

3. Development & Site Review

  • Constraints analysis including GIS applications
  • Initial environmental review
  • Environmental and planning advice on-site issues
  • Feasibility studies

4. Screening & Scoping

  • Requesting opinions from authorities
  • Early identification of statutory requirement for EIA
  • Focussed and efficient EIA through clear scoping

5. Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation

  • Climate change mitigation through our award-winning approach to carbon and cost reduction, including the implementation of PAS 2080
  • Ensuring project resilience and adaptability through the co-ordination of climate change projections across all EIA disciplines

6. Consultation (Community Impact, Public Participation)

  • Management and co-ordination of stakeholder and public consultation with landowners, communities, businesses and schools
  • Preparation and implementation of consultation and engagement plans to ensure effective dialogue and recording

Digital environmental impact assessments are increasingly important in helping developers to bring forward developments that respond directly to the needs of communities.

Rebecca McLean Head of Sustainability (Energy, Water & Environment)

 

Environmental empowerment

Historically, EIAs have taken the form of text-heavy, physical documents that are time-consuming for project teams to compile – but crucially, are even more time consuming for local communities to read and understand.  By digitalising our assessments on a live, interactive document that is accessible to all, it is easier to reach a far wider audience who can read and comment on plans, maps and videos, from their smartphones.

With our interactive digital EIAs, citizens and key stakeholders are empowered to access planning applications quickly and easily, creating the conditions for developers to bring forward projects that truly serve the needs of end users. Through the implementation of directive requirements and contributions to associated industry guidance, we continue to be at the forefront of this field. We address climate change mitigation and adaptation at the earliest stages of a project, which enables potentially significant effects to be mitigated.

Digital environmental impact assessments are increasingly important in helping developers to bring forward developments that respond directly to the needs of communities – with the opportunity to switch to paperless digital reporting as part of a wider push for more sustainable processes.

Contact Rebecca McLean for more information about digital reporting.

Together with our clients and the collective knowledge of our 21,000 engineers, consultants and other specialists, we co-create solutions to address urbanisation, capture the power of digitalisation, and make our societies more sustainable.​ With international multi-disciplinary teams, we can call on the right insight and technical capability at the right time from across Buildings, Infrastructure, Advisory & Planning and Compliance.​