Challenge

EIA’s require a significant degree of co-ordination between disciplines in order to ensure that all potential impacts are viewed and assessed in a holistic manner. For example, scheme changes can result in amendments to the anticipated traffic which may in turn affect the conclusions of the noise studies. Equally, adjustments to the building services provided may have consequences for the conclusions and mitigations proposed within the air quality assessment.

Where studies are undertaken by disparate groups, there is the potential for impacts to be missed or indeed compounded by a lack of management co-ordination.

Solution

At Mayer Brown, a number of complementary disciplines are covered in-house which provides a rounded overview of the likely impacts of scheme changes, enabling the project team to quickly feedback potential issues to the client.

We also are often requested to be part of external EIA teams and this understanding of the importance of maintaining a useful dialogue with other project members invariably assists us and the developer in allowing the project team to absorb and adjust to scheme developments.

For further information please contact ahughes@mayerbrown.co.uk