Achieve your goals in business and comply with wildlife legislation and policy – Geosphere Environmental Ltd can help you with effective pragmatic ecological services.

Not taking ecology seriously enough can lead to severe problems – long delays for building projects in excess of a year or more, planning permission refusals or being prosecuted.

Many businesses that have worked with us have experienced less delay, lower expenditure and more rapid resolution of their ecology issues than they expected by using ecological consultancy services from Geosphere Environmental Ltd.

Phase 1 Ecological Survey

You may need a Phase 1 Habitat Survey for one of the following reasons:

• To accompany a successful Planning Application, perhaps as part of an Environmental Statement
• To help determine Legal or Planning constraints for design to keep your development costs down and help get planning permission quicker
• For establishing baseline information for Biodiversity Enhancements, such as for BREEAM/Code for Sustainable Homes.

Geosphere Environmental can help you by tailoring the Phase 1 Habitat Survey to your particular needs in order to achieve your desired outcomes as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Your Phase 1 Habitat Survey from Geosphere Environmental will give you a more profitable, value-added development with biodiversity, from a consultancy that is actually focussed on delivering your objectives.

In order to save you time and money, your Phase 1 Habitat Survey will follow JNCC guidelines (the industry standard) but also include other assessments as appropriate, so that as many relevant potential ecological issues are identified and addressed within the one site survey visit and report.

Your Phase 1 Habitat Survey assessment may for example, include:

• Mapping of Phase 1 Habitats and subdivision of habitats to more specific habitat types as appropriate
• Identification of the risk of various areas on site supporting protected species or other relevant ecology issues
• A hedgerow survey if a hedgerow is to be impacted to check whether it is a species-rich important hedgerow under the Hedgerow Regulations
• A full botanical survey (particularly useful for BREEAM/Code for Sustainable Homes)
• A bat check by a licensed bat surveyor of any buildings and trees that may be affected on site
• A check for signs of badgers
• Assessment of ponds for Great Crested Newt potential by a licensed Great Crested Newt surveyor

You will find our reports are clear, professionally presented and to the point, enabling you to make the right decisions for your development. Your report will be carefully checked for quality before submission to ensure it meets your objectives.

In addition to the Phase 1 Habitat Survey plan, if appropriate we can also produce for you a separate plan showing the different risk levels in the different parts of the site for each ecology issue - helping you to quickly see where the constraints may occur.

Our advice is based on what is necessary for you to achieve your objectives. You will find there is a clear distinction in our reports between what is needed for basic legal and planning compliance, and what we advise you to undertake for added value. All this we deliver for you promptly while keeping you informed along the way.

Delaying discussing your site with one of our consultants could mean you miss opportunities to save time and money, as some of our work can only be undertaken in certain seasons and at certain stages of a development project - so contact us today to discuss how your site could benefit from a Phase 1 Habitat Survey that really maximises your site value.