Top tips: Development constraints management
Ground conditions, flooding and ecology are three issues that have the potential to significantly increase development costs and programme, and in severe circumstances, prevent development altogether. Check out our top tips below on how to manage and mitigate these risks to meet project deliverables.
✔ Top tips
- Always seek to understand your development risks.
- Seek to identify development constraints prior to defining your development layout. Where costs and timescales are critical, an initial appreciation of development constraints can be obtained using desk based records and expert judgment.
- Design your development to minimise the impact from constraints:
- Avoid structures in areas of poor ground
- Avoid sensitive land uses and excavation in contaminated areas
- Avoid major works in areas of sensitive ecology
- Align your green infrastructure with areas of elevated flood risk and your ecological mitigation
- Consider how your development proposals will impact offsite disposal of materials. Ideally seek to establish a cut and fill balance.
- Where you are unsure seek specialist advice.
- Remember that ecology benefits from statutory protection.
× Things to avoid
- Don’t ignore the development risks, this will invariably be more expensive than proactive management.
- Don’t design your development without considering the constraints.
- Don’t allow your site to become vegetated / colonised with ecology. This will increase constraints and biodiversity no net loss / gain requirements.
- Don't disregard regulations - remember that animals and land benefits from statutory protection which applies at all times.
Ecology Survey Chart
Contacts
Jonathan Morley
Associate Director - Hydrology T: +44 (0) 113 220 6190 Email
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