Without careful management, construction projects can have negative impacts on the environment and society. For example, poor containment of site runoff can lead to water pollution, whilst construction traffic can make life a misery for local residents. From the developer’s perspective, good environmental management will also reduce the risk of prosecution and poor publicity from breaches of environmental commitments.
An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is a practical tool for managing the effects of a project in the post-consent phase, typically in the run up to, and during, the construction phase of a project.
IEMA identified a need for guidance on EMPs, and LUC was commissioned in summer 2008 to prepare a ‘Practitioner’ Guide. It is aimed at those involved in developing, constructing and regulating development projects in a range of sectors. By promoting best practice in this way, the guide will help to ensure construction impacts are well managed.
The ‘Practitioner’ provides step by step assistance, illustrated with good practice examples. It also highlights potential pitfalls associated with EMPs, for example, failing to build EMP commitments into contracts and failing to identify clear actions and responsibilities, and how these may be overcome.
The ‘Practitioner’ guide was issued as a full colour A5 booklet in the December 2008 issue of the Environmentalist magazine, which is circulated to all IEMA members.
The project enabled us to build on our practical experience of preparing EMPs, combined with a rigorous methodology involving an extensive review of academic literature and interviews with experts in the field. The guide was extremely well received and provided the LUC team with a great sense of achievement.
IEMA representative Josh Fothergill said: “The time available to produce the EMP Practitioner was short, but achievable as long as it was managed effectively. …..[the LUC team] did a very good job in communicating between themselves and with myself …. this resulted in the Practitioner being sent to the publishers two days earlier than anticipated.”
The guide is available to purchase here
