A Net Gain Planning Tool (NGPT) for a Green Recovery of the Built Environment Sector

There are growing calls and policies demanding environmental net-gain from new developments. This is because the environment is increasingly seen as a valuable and multi-functional asset that benefits people's health, well-being and prosperity. Environmental net-gain is an approach to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than before, in line with HM Government's 25 Year Environment Plan.

As recognized by the Prime Minister, the built environment is central to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future sustainable growth. A key challenge for the built environment sector which is yet to be resolved is how environmental net-gain can be objectively measured and assessed.

The aim of this experimental research project lead by WSP and the Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN) is to co-develop a Net Gain Planning Tool (NGPT) to enable built environment professionals to objectively assess and measure to what extent new plans or developments achieve environmental net-gain. We will establish a strong cross-disciplinary partnership to develop the NGPT with the aim to become a widely accepted UK industry standard -- a game changer for the built environment sector. The NGPT will be made publicly available and free to use.

The NGPT-user will need to enter a range of simple indicators sch as land-use and green space accessibility before and after development. On that basis the tool will calculate the impact of the land-use change on up to 20 ecosystem services, physical and mental health, biodiversity and assess to what extent environmental net-gain has been achieved. The biodiversity assessment will only apply outside England as England already has a tool to assess biodiversity net-gain.

Some tools to assess the impact of land-use changes on environmental services are already available and provide a springboard for the NGPT development. However, none of these tools answers the crucial question of whether environmental net-gain has been achieved.

The NGPT will advance existing tools by combining the best features of existing tools, adding value by for example also assessing physical and mental health benefits, being evidence-based and yet easy to use, providing outcomes that are easy to interpret, answering the critical question of whether a plan or development achieves environmental net-gain based on national and local policies, allowing local planning authorities to pre-define what is expected from new development in terms of net-gain which will also enhance planning security for developers, setting incentives for going above and beyond minimum net-gain requirements, and becoming a widely accepted industry standard co-developed with the sector.

Overall, the NGPT will not only help to make future land-use more sustainable, but also to enable the built environment sector to play a more positive role by becoming a net-contributor to tackling environmental issues -- a potential game-changer for the sector as well as people and wildlife in the UK and beyond.

As we aim to establish a sector-wide partnership to co-develop the NGPT, we invite interested built environment professionals and stakeholders to contact our project manager Oliver Hoelzinger (oliver.hoelzinger@wsp.com) regarding involvement opportunities.