BIODIVERSITY | BNG REGULATION The new Biodiversity Net Gain Regulation gives engineers the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of their designs. Molly Tooher-Rudd speaks to biodiversity experts about the potential for nature-led solutions COMING INTO BLOOM T EMBODIED ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS The construction industry is incredibly resource-intensive, and accounts for approximately 50% of global resource extraction. The UK Green Building Council is working on introducing an embodied ecological impacts tool to assess the environmental toll of resource extraction, manufacturing and transportation processes. Building services engineers can play a crucial role in delivering BNG by prioritising existing materials, promoting reuse and recycling, and optimising design. Embracing regenerative practices and minimising extraction can further reduce environmental harm. Buro Happolds Aaron Grainger agrees that the BNG policy alone cannot fully address the profound impacts of the construction industry on nature. If global resource consumption mirrored that of the UK, we would require 2.6 Earths, highlighting the unsustainable nature of our current practices, he says. he implementation of the new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Regulation represents a significant shift towards a nature-positive and regenerative built environment. Designers now have to pay attention to natural as well as mechanical plant under the new rules, which mandate that developers in England assess the pre-existing biodiversity of a project site and provide a BNG of 10% by the end of the scheme. The building industry is resource-intensive, and a major contributor to habitat loss; it is responsible for 30% of biodiversity loss globally.1 Fiona Cousins, CIBSE presidentelect, is a keen proponent of biodiversity in building design. We need to take an approach that recognises every design decision as a pivotal factor in influencing climate change, social equity, and biodiversity, she said during a TEDx talk last year. Introduced into the Environment Act 2001, the BNG Regulation became law under the Town and Country Planning Act on 12 February for larger sites, and will come into force on 2 April 2024 for smaller sites. Developers must aim to deliver BNG gains on site; however, they can be achieved off site if necessary, or as a last resort, by buying statutory biodiversity offset credits. Failure to meet targets will incur financial penalties, including a fine of 5,000 if misleading information is included in biodiversity plans. The BNG policy follows a mitigation hierarchy, prioritising the preservation of existing resources on site. This means developers must look to avoid losing biodiversity in the first place. Consultant engineers have responded to the regulation and the growing focus on nature-led developments by building teams of biodiversity consultants. Arups nature lead, Tom Butterworth, was once an academic who researched snails in Sri Lanka, and he has extensive experience in nature conservation. He welcomes the regulation: It is not going to solve all our problems, but this is going to transform how development happens, where it happens, and the outcome in terms of biodiversity. Weve lost 60% of abundance of our species in the UK since 19702 thats staggering. We need to drive forward work for nature, because its the moral thing to do and because its crucial if we are going to deliver climate commitments; we cant do one without the other. Aaron Grainger, associate director for ecology and biodiversity at Buro Happold, believes the mental health epidemic is also linked with access to nature. Wellbeing is as inherently intertwined with biodiversity as the climate crisis is, and were becoming more 18 March 2024 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE March 24 pp18-19 Biodiversity Gain.indd 18 23/02/2024 16:51