Sustainable Development

Commercial, environmental, regulatory and political drivers in the UK are encouraging developers to consider the carbon footprint of their projects, caused by the site's future energy demands and to ensure wider sustainable objectives are taken into account in new developments and existing estates. UPL assists public and private sector clients in dealing with these issues through specialist advice in the following areas:

• Sustainability appraisal and checklists: this is a structured method for assessing the performance of projects of all sizes, taking into account issues such as water efficiency, waste, pollution, ecology, construction materials, transportation and impacts on the community.
• Climate change: climate change and sustainable development are interconnected. In simple terms, the over-consumption of the earth’s resources has resulted in excess emissions going into the atmosphere, as a direct result of unsustainable development. Climate change is now considered to be the greatest environmental challenge of our time. We can help produce strategies to reduce emissions and develop plans to help your organisation adapt to the inevitable changes that will affect your business.
• Assessing and advising new developments under the Code for Sustainable Homes and/ or BREEAM.
• Renewable energy and low carbon solutions such as wind generation, biomass, photovoltaic, ground source heat pumps etc.
• Integrate sustainability considerations with the traditional statutory utility infrastructure requirements to minimise overall costs to new developments. These can include the use of energy services companies (ESCOs).
• Project review: we can provide a high level service to critically review projects and advise clients where they may wish to make improvements.
• Stakeholder engagement: we have significant experience of working with stakeholders at all levels to help them develop a project or to assist design teams with their decision making.
  

Our quality sustainable services aim to help our clients meet their planning, legal and corporate objectives in a timely and efficient manner.