Open Spaces can offer you a full range of ecological services which include Preliminary Ecological Appraisals (PEA) - Phase 1 and Phase 2 habitat surveys and species specific surveys, and reports.  Our ecologists are fully qualified and are full members of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM).

We undertake presence/absence surveys, mitigation design and translocation of protected species. As with all our reports, we believe in giving you, the developer, clear, practical advice and cost effective solutions to the challenges that ecological considerations and constraints often place on development.

Many biodiversity surveys have seasonal constraints (Click Here For Ecology Timetable), and we therefore advise our clients that ecological survey requirements should be considered as early as possible within the timetable of any potential project.

Often referred to as an Ecology Report, Biodiversity Survey, or Phase 1 or Phase 2 Habitat Survey, an Ecological Appraisal is the process where a site is assessed for its potential to provide habitats for protected species, and records the flora present and site conditions, measuring the likely impact that your development proposal may have and making recommendations, if required, for further survey effort, mitigation design or measures that may be taken to avoid or reduce impacts. Often a stand-alone report, a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) can also form part of a formal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), depending on the scale of your development. Using our professional judgement, we will fully justify any potential impacts or reasons why there are no impacts within our reports. Although a PEA can be conducted at any time of year, protected species surveys, including presence/absence surveys and population class assessments are largely governed by a ‘Survey Calendar’ and it is for this reason that we advise developers to address ecological matters at the outset.
We can offer you surveys and reports for a wide range of protected species. As the presence of protected species on a site can impact considerably on your timetable, planning applications involving protected species will progress more quickly if these matters are addressed at an early stage, enabling project design, mitigation design, clearance works and timetabling to be integrated with the species needs. Our fully qualified ecologists can offer advice for a wide range of species, including badgers, bats, reptiles, slow worms and great crested newts. Other surveys and reports can also cover amphibians, birds, dormice, otters, water voles, invertebrates, rare plants and more.
At Open Spaces we can offer you practical mitigation design and implementation, including translocation, for species such as reptiles and great crested newts. We can prepare method statements and on-site support, including Watching Briefs, and are skilled at working with contractors on site to optimise their ecological performance.

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