From carbon management and biodiversity guidance to impact assessments, geoenvironmental support and Nature-based Solutions, our environmental consultancy specialists will work with you at all project stages, including planning and permitting, to design practical and innovative solutions.
Our goal is to protect environmental quality, enhance environmental awareness and responsibility, and make a meaningful contribution to sustainable business performance as part of the green transition.
Sweco’s environmental consultancy spans the whole spectrum of expertise across buildings, utilities infrastructure and transport services. As a leading multi-disciplinary environment, engineering and design consultancy we combine local presence with global knowledge to deliver innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions – prioritising net zero planning and Nature-based Solutions.
Our core environmental, net zero & sustainability services
Environmental consultancy is about supporting development teams and decision makers through an early understanding of risks and opportunities and applying a rigorous risk management approach. You will benefit from fully support in navigating the permitting/planning regulatory framework, as well as our close co-ordination and and engagement with any incumbent professionals as required.
Our environmental planning team provide a range of services across all of the key sectors within the UK and across Europe. Key sectors include:
Urban regeneration
Property development
Infrastructure – highways and active travel
Energy generation, transmission and storage
Life sciences
Property transaction services – acquisition and divestiture
Water and waste infrastructure
Residential and mixed-use masterplans
Defence
Health and education
Our team understands the issues associated with these sectors and can provide considered, pragmatic, sustainable and cost-effective advice through a risk management approach to all stages of the project life cycle: acquisition, design, planning, construction and operation.
More about our key environmental services
EIA Coordination
Our environmental planning expert can manage your project through all stages of the EIA process:
Robust EIA Screening to determine requirement
EIA Scoping with determining authority to agree proportionate content and methodologies of assessment
UndertakingEIA – the team can prepare all EIA documentation for all of the UK’s main consenting mechanisms, integrating EIA with other consenting regimes, including permitting, planning, marine licencing and energy consenting
Post-planning support – support during determination, agreement on and discharge of planning conditions, Section 96a and Section 73 applications
Sweco is an industry leader in digital EIA. This streamlines the process for our clients and adds great value in consultation and engagement with key stakeholders
Where an EIA is not required, we can coordinate the various specialist environmental assessments required to support and design and planning, a typical requirement for our clients. Our clients benefit from our integrated approach, no matter contract size.
Consultation – community impact and public participation
We can manage and coordinate stakeholder and public consultation with landowners, communities, businesses and schools. To ensure effective dialogue and recording, we can prepare and implement consultation and engagement plans. We are experienced in public consultation exercises, exhibitions, letter drops and social media. We are also able to offer virtual consultation rooms.
Site Acquisition and Feasibility Studies
To support clients with due diligence and decision-making on site acquisition, our team can provide risk assessment constraints analysis, including GIS applications. To support the early stages of design and formation of development briefs, we can conduct initial environmental reviews, provide environmental and planning advice on site risks and feasibility studies. These early stage services can also be applied to the early stages of route and corridor selection for linear projects such as roads, pipelines and overhead cables.
Sustainability Appraisal
Our multi-disciplinary teams can provide you with the following services:
Policy, plan and programme appraisal
Development plans and strategies
Project management of all stages of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and preparation of required documentation
Preparation of SEA documentation including SEA environmental reports
BREEAM and CEEQUAL assessments and assurance
Ecosystem services and natural capital evaluation
Sustainable design and preparation of Sustainability Statements to support planning applications
To ensure mitigation identified through EIA is effectively implemented, we design innovative and sustainable mitigation strategies and create management plans. This includes:
Construction Environmental Management Plans
Site Waste & Material Management Plans
Incident Management Plans
Sustainable Water and Drainage Plans
Construction Traffic Management Plans
Our ecology teams have extensive experience inputting to the design of large-scale infrastructure projects and masterplans alongside our landscape architecture teams. To deliver biodiversity net gain and minimise the impacts of such works upon the environment, our Ecologists apply the latest UK habitat classifications and biodiversity metric calculators. Together, our landscape architects, flood risk engineers and ecologists incorporate consideration of Nature-based Solutions in the design process so projects contribute to healthy ecosystem services and meet the functional demands.
Human and Social Impact: Health, equality and socio-economics consultancy
At Sweco, we provide comprehensive, community-focused impact assessment services to clients across various industries. We understand that in today’s world, organisations and partners along their supply chains need to scope project delivery beyond financial and environmental capital alone, and take into account the wider societal implications of buildings or infrastructure development – such as health, wellbeing and equality.
Together with our clients and the collective knowledge of our 22,000 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.
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