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CASEstudy Meeting the BNG challenge AtkinsRéalis create a solution to meet new biodiversity net gain legislation AtkinsRéalis has used the new solution in the last 12 months include both rail and road, as well as utilities and masterplanning. The analytical BNG process sits within the AtkinsRéalis SpatialCDE, a common data environment designed and built specifically to manage the unique challenges of geospatial data over large projects or programmes. Benefits of the SpatialCDE approach across certain projects include: More efficient data collation and management within the SpatialCDE saves £300,000 per year on each development Quickly developed custom tools deliver £160,000 cost savings per year, per project 1,000% increase in BNG is projected on a single project. Global design, engineering and project management organisation AtkinsRéalis was already committed to sustainable development but needed a way of meeting the Environment Act 2021. This demands that all new major construction projects from January 2024 deliver a biodiversity net gain (BNG) of at least 110%. Biodiversity is the incredible variety of life on earth, including ecosystems, habitats and species. The new law makes sure a development leaves the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand. Determining BNG has become more complex with the new legislation, which now needs to be run every time a design scheme is altered. This can mean costs escalate very quickly. Any process for handling BNG calculations need to be repeatable, accurate and quick. AtkinsRéalis has created a new solution to streamline the processes involved and dramatically reduce the time and cost it takes to plan, monitor and report on the amount of biodiversity for each rail, road, energy or other project. The geospatial approach has created new digital workflows, usable by everyone on a project. This involves repeatable processes, interactive map dashboards or web maps for better data sharing and mobile apps for faster data collection in the field. The result is an incredibly accurate, efficient and cost-effective method of managing a project's impact on the landscape, ensuring environmental sustainability and meeting the new legislation. Client projects where THE CHALLENGE Across the industry, organisations are grappling with how best to meet the Environment Act 2021. The new legislation has made determining BNG on client projects more complex and the process has to be run every time a design scheme changes. Organisations also need to be able to prove that the data being used is the most current version available. Any significant change in BNG has to be highlighted along with the reasons why, by setting out the differences in the data used. On any large highway, rail, energy or other infrastructure project, there can be over 12 different disciplines, all working to limit the negative impact on the environment and understand the central design, which moves quickly. Disciplines include design, engineering, construction, geotechnical, flooding, archaeology, ecology, environmental services, heritage and social value. Working on similar BNG questions nuanced to their field, these disciplines also need to be able to understand each other's domain. With multiple inputs and outputs 28 January/February 2024
CASEstudy created across these stakeholders, a highly complex working environment is soon established. Maintaining this interconnected process can get very expensive without any central spatial system or automation. Manual disconnected approaches carry a data management overhead for each team's individual data silo, while timescales are lengthened as it takes time for data to pass between silos. The risk of problems from out-of-sync versioning could be potentially disastrous for a project, including delays in construction and costly reworks. THE SOLUTION To ensure all parties remain aligned, a single source of truth devoid of any human error is critical. Having this as a repeatable, iterative, accurate process, enshrined in a concrete GIS element is absolutely vital, and this is what AtkinsRéalis has created. At the heart of the BNG solution lies the AtkinsRéalis Spatial Common Data Environment (SpatialCDE), which means solid data management is already in place and accelerates any analysis performed upon it. The SpatialCDE is a fully custom tech-stack, combining open source with FME, Esri ArcGIS, and Microsoft Azure to create a resilient data management and visualisation toolbox. A project may have several thousand individual data layers; the SpatialCDE ensures they are identifiable, auditable, accessible, and understandable. Using Esri ArcGIS Python libraries, AtkinsRéalis SpatialCDE can build custom analytical applications quickly, so users can view or analyse data in 2D or 3D to answer their specific queries in a selfservice way. They don't need desktop software and they don't all need to be fully skilled in GIS, but can focus on their domain specialisms such as ecology, without encountering technological or personnel bottlenecks. Using custom apps connected to the SpatialCDE means accurate and timely data is easily shared across multiple teams and third-party organisations, enhancing the BNG decision-making process. No specialist training is required - its intuitive user interface makes it easy for new users to become familiar with interrogating data. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are conducted using ArcGIS Field Maps on mobile devices. Ecologists use map-driven mobile forms to capture different assets and observations to complete their work efficiently and accurately. Data is then automatically uploaded to the SpatialCDE. The whole platform is aligned with ISO 19650, the international standard which sets data management guidance and is BIM Level 2 compliant. Now, when BNG is being examined, the SpatialCDE looks at the type and volume of habitats which are due to be impacted. As it's a systems based approach, the same analysis can take place every time the design is changed in order to reveal exactly how much habitat is impacted. Replacements or mitigation are then calculated. The workflow takes seconds instead of days or weeks, compared to a traditional manual paper-based method. BENEFITS AND EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS 1. More efficient data collection and management saves each AtkinsRéalis SpatialCDE project £300,000 per year. Time saved comes from: Less time spent looking for and collating necessary data Ecologists spend less time collecting data in the field Fewer physical meetings to discuss the latest version of the design No inputting of data into maps and pdfs No inputting of disparate data No additional processing of the data No paper drawings or maps. 2. Custom applications involved project calculations within the AtkinsRéalis SpatialCDE are deployed more quickly, each one saving on average £160,000 per year: This cost saving comes from custom applications to answer specific questions taking hours to create instead of days For example, if a user wants to examine carbon sequestration for a project, they create an application, draw a shape, switch the land use to 'woodland' and it will show how much carbon sequestration they will gain Another example is understanding constraints in proximity. A simple app can 'buffer' the design feature, to tell you what is going to be within 500m of that point, which is invaluable in establishing stakeholder impact To understand its visual impact, a zone of theoretical visibility is easily created, showing the user everything that can 'see' the new structure, based on topography and other structures. 3. In one project example, a 1,000% potential increase in BNG is projected, thanks to a comprehensive identification of opportunity by the new methodology: Following a systematic search of the study area soft estate, four areas of opportunity were selected for feasibility study stage, with proposed habitat interventions to create mixed scrub habitat and neutral grassland enhancement Following the habitat interventions proposed, the selected areas combined would potentially achieve 1,000% increase in biodiversity This study identified these opportunities, but it also created a long list of similar opportunities along roads across the region. This means that once interventions have been trialled, those that are most successful can be replicated on similar sites across the region. CONCLUSION AtkinsRéalis believes it has created one of the most advanced geospatial systems in the industry with SpatialCDE, in terms of spatial data management and how it is already delivering against project vectors such as BNG requirements and its projected benefits. An exemplar of how innovation in BNG techniques can guarantee the provision of essential infrastructure but not at the expense of biodiversity, the system also demonstrates best practice in how to meet the new Environment Act 2021. AtkinsRéalis with Esri ArcGIS were winners of the Sustainability Project of the Year category at the recent Construction Computing Awards. www.esriuk.com/aec January/February 2024 29
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Page 4 and 5: COMMENT Editor: David Chadwick (cad
Page 6 and 7: INDUSTRY news CALCULATING OUR ENVIR
Page 8 and 9: INDUSTRY news VECTORWORKS WINS GOOD
Page 10 and 11: EVENTpreview Futurebuild 2024: the
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Page 22 and 23: CASEstudy Loch on wood Dylan Balisk
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