Off-site BNG allows speedy delivery of London housing
With time and space at a premium and biodiversity a key planning requirement, Environment Bank worked with family-owned residential developer Hollybrook to efficiently meet Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) planning conditions for a London project with off-site Biodiversity Units.
About the development project
A trio of three-storey houses in East Finchley, Barnet were scheduled for demolition and rebuild to deliver much-needed residential accommodation in a highly desirable area. Housing developments in London are often challenging, with high demand and limited space creating the urgent requirement for efficient projects in difficult key locations.
Developers at Hollybrook were finding these space limitations to be a particular challenge for this project. With tight constraints, rooms were already planned for the roof spaces within the new houses and, as well as landscaped green spaces, they also wanted to provide cycle storage, off-street parking, and refuse storage for residents on-site.
Alongside with the landscaped gardens, Hollybrook were keen to support biodiversity as much as possible on-site and included features such as bat and bird boxes within the building plans. However, they still wanted to ensure that the development, despite its small plot, could offer all the other amenities essential for London living.
With all options for on-site BNG exhausted, Hollybrook still needed to deliver a small off-site gain in biodiversity so reached out to Environment Bank to secure off-site Biodiversity Units.
Working with Environment Bank has been a seamless process enabling us to secure planning consent on a scheme where delivering BNG on-site was not possible.
Henry Austen
Development Surveyor
Hollybrook
A collaborative approach to BNG
Hollybrook’s consultant ecologist worked closely with Environment Bank’s team of BNG experts, setting out the requirements for the site, including stipulations requested by the local planning authority (LPA).
In total, Hollybrook required less than a whole Biodiversity Unit – and Environment Bank were happy to supply the specific amount needed so Hollybrook didn’t need to purchase a whole Unit.
Everything could be delivered to budget and without any additional on-site enhancements beyond what had already been planned within the limited space.
All in all, terms were agreed upon within two weeks of the initial enquiry, and the deal was finalised within a month to the satisfaction of the developers and the LPA.
Hollybrook’s proactive approach and early engagement with Environment Bank meant we could deliver a solution as efficiently as they come, allowing for development to continue seamlessly and on schedule.
Supporting habitat restoration on a large scale
Environment Bank’s team are always excited to collaborate with developers for whom biodiversity is not just a requirement but an active goal, and we’re delighted that on-site landscaped areas at the new development will help to improve biodiversity in the London Borough of Barnet.
To ensure the development achieved an overall net gain in biodiversity, we supplied Hollybrook with a small amount off-site Biodiversity Units from our Puddington Habitat Bank, one of our dedicated nature recovery sites, where degraded arable fields are being transformed into a rich mosaic of thriving habitats across almost twenty-five acres.
Puddington Habitat Bank is being cleverly managed through a collaborative partnership with the local farmers who are using a herd of Ruby Red Devon cattle, a sustainable local breed, to gently graze the very grassland that’s generating the Biodiversity Units that Hollybrook have purchased.
This Habitat Bank is secured under a section 106 agreement with the LPA and has been formally added to Natural England’s biodiversity gain sites register.
A huge thanks to Hollybrook homes for choosing Environment Bank as their off-site Biodiversity Unit provider for this development. We developed a close working relationship on this project and look forward to working with them on other developments in the future.
Rory Somerville
Key Account Analyst
Environment Bank