Environmental Impact Assessment

If left uncontrolled the construction phase of a development can have significant impacts on the environment and the local community. Both the commissioning client organisation and the construction contractor have key responsibilities in ensuring that these environmental impacts are controlled adequately.

A preconstruction environmental management plan should form part of the Environmental Statement documentation. This environmental management plan should set-out the framework and requirements for the management of environmental impacts associated with the construction phase of the project. The construction client should ensure that the contract includes a requirement on the contractor to comply with the actions set out in the preconstruction environmental management plan and to demonstrate to the client how they intend to indentify further environmental impacts and implement the detailed mechanisms for managing the environmental impacts of works on site.

The construction contractor should develop and implement an environmental management system to take full account of the environmental issues and manage those accordingly. The key to the successful management of the environmental issues on site lies in a systematic approach, which should be documented in a construction environmental management plan (cEMP). The foundation for a good and specific EMP lies in a robust planning and appraisal process to identify the environmental issues and requirements. The subsequent control measures should be based on Best Practible Environmental Options (BPEO) and Best Available Technology (BAT). In developing the environmental control measures the guidance that is provided by organisations such as the Environment Agency and CIRIA should be taken into account.

The construction environmental management plan should include the specific measures that will taken to control and manage the environmental impacts that may otherwise occur for each of the environmental topics, such as noise, air quality, water resources, ecology and archaeology. In addition a description of the planned works and the general site arrangements should be inlcuded in the construction environmental management plan.