Bats and the built environment: Bat Mitigation Case Studies Forum 2017

Contract Ecology’s licensed bat surveyors participated in a live polling knowledge sharing exercise when they attended the Bat Mitigation Case Studies forum in Fitzrovia, London in January 2017

The Bat Mitigation Case Studies Forum 2017 was held at ARUP headquarters in London on 24th January and was part of the Bat Conservation Trust’s Bats and the Built Environment Project.

The forum was attended by a wide audience representing a cross section of the industries typically involved in bat mitigation and monitoring including ecological consultants, local authorities, statutory nature conservation bodies and senior representatives from the construction sector.

A series of talks and presentations were offered discussing different techniques and examples of bat mitigation strategy ranging from bat houses to recreating part infilled bridge systems.  The day also included a very rare opportunity to engage with Eric Jansen from the Dutch Mammal Society who presented an example of moving bat hibernation roosts, an area rarely covered in professional symposiums.

The case studies presented covered mostly schemes which required a licence to disturb bats or their roost based on bat surveys having confirmed bat activity.  Licenses are required in instances where a development cannot avoid disturbance or other impact to bats, even for a temporary period.

Licenses are issued by the statutory nature conservation body for that given country (Natural England; Scottish Natural Heritage; Natural Resources Wales; Northern Ireland Environment Agency.  Our experienced ecologists can prepare and submit licence applications on your behalf following the granting of planning permission.

Opportunities for incorporating enhancement features into buildings for bats isn’t however limited to sites where roosting is to be disturbed or destroyed.  National planning policy looks for development to enhance biodiversity and such improvements can be as simple as including readymade bat bricks or bat access ridge tiles into the build specification.

Get in touch to see how our ecologists and bat surveyors can help with your next development project on 01772 731404.

For more on our bat survey services please click here https://contractecology.co.uk/bat-surveys/