Join this expert talk delivered by Environment Analyst's Sustainability Delivery Group where speaker Alan Kirby, Principal Ecologist at Wood will discuss biodiversity net gain and DCO projects.

The Environment Bill currently progressing through parliament paves the way for a standard approach to calculating and delivering biodiversity net gain in England. This approach has been broadly welcomed by developers and conservationists as it provides for a transparent and measurable approach. DCO projects are to be exempt from the need to use the Defra Biodiversity Metric, however this exemption is unlikely to enable a “business as usual” approach as the lens through which stakeholders view mitigation and compensation will change as its use becomes widespread.

BNG provides opportunities for DCO projects, but also potential issues that will ideally be solved through early project planning. The opportunities presented are common with other types of projects and are based around the perceptions of stakeholders, design evolution and early understanding of costs, whilst the issues to resolve are around scale and delivery. How these become manifest will be however influenced by the DCO regime and the type of project in question.

Alan Kirby, Principal Ecologist at Wood has worked in ecological consultancy for the past 16 years, spending the last 10 years working on DCO projects including Hinkley Point C, North London (Electricity) Reinforcement, Navitus Bay Offshore Wind Farm, Triton Knoll Electrical System and the Heathrow Expansion Project. He worked closely with Heathrow and Natural England to incorporate biodiversity net gain into the Heathrow Expansion Project in all phases

Biodiversity Net Gain and DCO Projects