Biodiversity

The construction sector is emerging as a crucial player in the global shift toward becoming “Nature Positive,” as highlighted by UK-based biodiversity consultancy, Biodiversify. While the built environment sector is responsible for up to 30% of global biodiversity loss, some leading construction businesses are making strides to mitigate this impact.

Building materials company Holcim made headlines in October 2024 as one of only three companies globally to publicly adopt science-based targets for nature. This move demonstrates that ambitious, credible action toward nature positivity is achievable, even in the building materials industry.

BAM, a signatory of the Nature Positive Business Pledge and an early member of the Supply Chain Sustainability School, is also leading the way by integrating biodiversity considerations throughout its supply chain. These examples reflect growing momentum in the construction industry to adopt nature-positive strategies and help preserve biodiversity for future generations.

Biodiversify reported a marked increase in construction companies seeking expert advice to embed Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) into their projects, particularly during the development of offices, depots, and manufacturing facilities.

The boutique consultancy has praised the industry for starting to scrutinise its supply chain, tracing the origins of raw materials such as aggregates and timber, and leveraging certification standards to make informed sourcing decisions that support biodiversity.

This emerging focus is aided by the recent work of the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and Supply Chain Sustainability School to promote the business imperatives of sustainable procurement.

Biodiversify is currently undertaking groundbreaking work with the UKGBC to address the embodied ecological impacts that are caused by the resource extraction and manufacturing process, such as the production and transportation of raw materials and the disposal of unused materials. This work builds on the insightful 2023 report published by Expedition Engineering on ‘The Embodied Biodiversity Impacts of Construction Materials’.

Voluntary frameworks, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN), have also played a pivotal role in encouraging the construction sector to assess its relationship with nature, aided by legislative drivers including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Daniel Oldham, Principal Consultant at Biodiversify, said: “The construction sector has made impressive progress in addressing its impact on nature, demonstrating its capacity for meaningful change.

“Voluntary nature frameworks have played a key role in helping the industry adopt robust methodologies for assessing impacts and dependencies on nature, enabling more informed and effective strategies. Many organisations are now wanting to align with science-based targets for nature, inspired by early adopters.”

“Legislation like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the upcoming European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) are providing a strong foundation. However, the construction industry can make an even greater impact by fully embracing science-based frameworks and integrating biodiversity considerations across its entire value chain.”

Biodiversify predicts that the momentum within the construction sector will continue to grow in 2025, spurred by legislative requirements and an expanding awareness of biodiversity’s critical role in business resilience.

Environment Bank, the top provider of off-site Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), has added 16 Habitat Banks to Natural England’s biodiversity gain sites register. Spanning 850 acres across England, these sites account for over 40% of the register and unlock 2,000+ biodiversity units for developers to meet BNG requirements.

Catherine Spitzer, CEO, Environment Bank said: “There is growing demand to purchase Biodiversity Units and adding sites onto the national register is the final step in making them available for purchase. Environment Bank’s new additions have increased the size of the register by over 75%, and we’re expecting more of our national network of 30 Habitat Banks to be added soon.

“With much discussion around the perceived lack of availability of registered Biodiversity Units ready for developers to purchase, Environment Bank is rapidly providing a solution to satisfy demand.”

Developers are required by law to ensure that all significant developments deliver a minimum 10% increase in biodiversity for them to be granted planning permission by the local authority. Developers can do this by creating new habitats at the site of development, but this is often not possible.

Their next option is to purchase Biodiversity Units from a dedicated BNG site – like the Habitat Banks Environment Bank has created. For a developer to satisfy the local authority, any off-site Biodiversity Units they’ve purchased must come from a BNG site that’s listed on Natural England’s biodiversity gain sites register.

To be added to the register, a BNG site must have a legal agreement in place (either a conservation covenant or s106) to make use of the land bound to BNG for a mandatory 30-year period.

An innovative project using birdsong to unlock the secrets of wildlife has been launched through a collaboration between the UK Agri-Tech Centre and Chirrup.ai.

Chirrup.ai introduced this groundbreaking technology to simplify and reduce the cost of nature monitoring, providing an affordable solution for measuring and managing biodiversity.

The project, called ‘ChirrupNano’, is funded by Innovate UK and utilizes birdsong to monitor wildlife that is often invisible in nature reserves and backyard bird counts.

The next-generation bio-recorder is slim, self-locating, remotely deployable, and designed and built in the UK. Delivered directly to farms, it can be deployed in various environments, from sunny fields to shaded woodlands, wherever monitoring is needed.

Chirrup’s AI currently recognizes over 100 species from Great Britain and Ireland.

It is already getting major retraining to recognise all the important species that the UK’s pioneering non-governmental organisations have drawn to our attention, thanks to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), The Wildlife Trusts and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

The redesigned website app lets farms compare their species lists to others, to standard benchmarks and even their own past performance.

This empowers them to make more informed decisions about sustainable practices, leading to a richer, healthier ecosystem – such as increased plant diversity, better soil and fewer pests.

Birds are ecological barometers; they’re everywhere, super responsive to change and their presence tells a story about the thriving life in the places they occupy – from insects and plants to clean water and the general quality of the ecosystem.

With farmland covering a huge 71% of the UK, it is the ideal testing ground for the next-generation Chirrup.ai and farmers are being asked to respond to changing government and food company policies on pro-wildlife production.

The ChirrupNano project is about making it easy, fast and affordable. One hundred farmers were invited to a farmland trial to help refine the next-generation Chirrup.ai, and will also contribute to the future of environmental monitoring in the UK.

Hayley Gerry, Project Manager at the UK Agri-Tech Centre, said: “The expanse of knowledge we can gain about biodiversity in an area using the bioacoustics of bird song is extremely impressive.

“To enable sustainable farming, we need to encourage multi-species habitats to enrich the areas, which in turn makes the farming of livestock and arable products sustainable.

“In order to do this we need to be able to measure the baseline of the current situation, and that is where this project comes in.”

Dr Stella Peace, Executive Director for Healthy Living and Agriculture at Innovate UK, said: “These innovations are crucial for safeguarding our natural environment.

“By investing in these pioneering projects, we’re helping businesses unlock innovations that make life better, ensuring that the UK leads the way in developing sustainable solutions that benefit both our economy and our communities.”

The project will be put to the test in the spring of 2025 across the UK.

An expert ornithologist and ecologists will analyse and validate the results whilst the UK Agri-Tech Centre will help us to link outcomes to agricultural practices.