5
Ecological appraisals
Powys schools
Demolition and replacement of five primary school buildings and landscaping with sports/play areas and biodiversity features. RPS was the sole ecologist undertaking Preliminary Ecological Appraisals to provide a detailed breakdown of ecological resources at each of the five sites.
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Key details
Project name
Powys schools
Client
Willmott Dixon
Location
Various, Powys and Herefordshire
Services provided
- Ecology
- Ecological and protected species survey
- Planning support
- Mitigation design and implementation
- NRW EPS licensing (bats)
- Planning condition discharge
Challenge
The project required a flexible and innovative approach to meet the biodiversity requirements for legislation and planning policy, while ensuring the school grounds were fit for purpose. The demolition and replacement work had to fit around school term times and education funding rounds to ensure no interruption to the children’s education.
The landscape design had to not only provide play areas but also biodiversity gain for planning, as well as maximised biodiversity value for BREEAM assessment. Bat roosts in two school buildings and a hedgerow connected to a dormouse habitat at one site presented potential cost and timing obstacles. In another school, the presence of great crested newts had the potential to cause unacceptable delays.
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Project statistics
1
Biosecurity risk assessments
5
BREEAM ecology assessment
2
Sites requiring biodiversity enhancement strategies
5
Bat emergence surveys
4
Great Crested Newt eDNA surveys