BDB Pitmans shortlisted at National Sustainability Awards 2024

We are delighted to announce that BDB Pitmans have been shortlisted for the Education, Training and Communication Award at the National Sustainability Awards 2024.

This recognition highlights our significant work in the field of biodiversity net gain (BNG), led by partner Angus Walker, providing accessible expertise and knowledge to build a way to a better future.

The planning and infrastructure sectors are amongst the long list of causes of loss and damage to biodiversity. As part of the government’s environmental policy, the BNG obligation was introduced and came fully into force on 2 April 2024, placing biodiversity firmly on the agenda for all property developers, landowners and local authorities. Whilst this policy is guaranteed to provide a sustainable approach to infrastructure development and to better than replace all habitats lost through development, its implementation brought about a lot of confusion, unanswered questions, and uncertainty. Thanks to our already established expertise in the planning sector, our team led by Angus Walker was ready to bring clarity to the complex topic of BNG and to shed some light on the solutions to the new requirements.

Our multi-faceted approach to the campaign, spanning across social media, email, our website, events and webinars reemphasised our reputation for excellence in the infrastructure sector and further established Angus as a true BNG leader in the UK. Whilst the mandate applies to everyone in England, the exact requirements can differ between various local authorities. To remove any confusion, Angus prepared a list of England’s 317 local councils and 10 national park authorities with links to each of their individual BNG compliance rules. As the campaign went on, Angus went a step ahead and submitted Freedom of Information requests to all 327 of those organisations, asking for their designated BNG officer’s contact details, as well as a copy of their section 106 agreement template for biodiversity gain sites. This painstaking task has generated interesting results and attracted the attention of national and trade press, including publications in the Planning Resource, Estates Gazette, Construction Management Magazine and Specification Online magazine, further establishing Angus as a thought leader in the BNG world.

To learn more about our BNG offering, visit our Biodiversity Net Gain homepage.