FOR MAJOR warehouse schemes, environmental advice is often brought in too late. By the time we are appointed, the building has been positioned, the development envelope agreed and expectations set on how much floorspace the site will deliver. Some of the most important environmental decisions may already have been made, and that can be an expensive oversight.

Our role isn’t to tell developers they can’t build. It’s to help them understand where the risks are, where there is flexibility and where they really shouldn’t go. We work on strategic sites with clients including Indurent, Harworth Group, CBRE and Tritax Symmetry.

Don’t let the numbers come before the evidence

One of the biggest risks is fixing the numbers too early. A target floorspace or land value is set, the masterplan is built around it and the figure quickly becomes treated as fact. Only when the environmental team arrives does it become clear that part of the site is sensitive.

On one potential project, we found the site formed the focal point of a view along an avenue associated with a nearby registered park and garden. Their historic significance is a material consideration in planning decisions, and the development strategy changed: we went with housing instead. Had the evidence come earlier, significant time and money would have been saved. Environmental due diligence also affects what a developer is prepared to pay for land, so it is a commercial consideration as much as an environmental one.

A warehouse isn’t easy to hide

A 15 to 50-metre-high box presents a very different landscape challenge from housing, and planting a few trees around the perimeter won’t solve it. Effective mitigation needs bunding, woodland belts or changes in levels, and all of these need land. I’ve worked on sites where the push for floorspace left too little room, so the design team was asked to solve a problem created at the start.

A constraint isn’t a reason to stop

Not every constraint carries the same weight. There is a big difference between removing a defunct hedgerow and losing a species-rich habitat with greater planning protection, or between an ordinary tree and a veteran one. The aim is to understand the hierarchy of environmental value early enough to make intelligent decisions.

Mandatory biodiversity net gain adds a balance-sheet impact. On a large warehouse site even habitats of modest value matter because of the area involved. If improvements are delivered on site, that land reduces the development envelope; if elsewhere, there is a financial cost.

One piece of land can do several jobs

Water, landscape and biodiversity can often be tackled together through green and blue infrastructure. If the same area manages surface water, provides habitat, screens the building and creates a pleasant setting for employees, it delivers far more than if each function is designed separately. The new National Planning Policy Framework reinforces this, with Policy N2 promoting green infrastructure and nature-based solutions. On a warehouse site, where every square metre has commercial value, it should be part of the development’s infrastructure rather than leftover space.

Early advice is affordable. Late mistakes aren’t

If a developer is considering bidding for a site, we can start with a red-line plan and the sales information. A desktop assessment and site visit are sometimes enough to identify a significant risk, at a point when the findings can still influence commercial decisions. That could stop a developer overpaying for land by millions of pounds.

The alternative is to set a land value, commission a masterplan and invest heavily, only to find the scheme doesn’t work. At best that means redesign and delay. At worst it means a failed planning application or appeal.

The objective isn’t to build less. It’s to understand what can realistically be built, where it can go and how it can work within its environmental context. Getting the environmental strategy right at the beginning isn’t simply good planning. It’s also good business.

For more information, visit tylergrange.co.uk