Biodiversity net gain
nature as infrastructure
know your bng position before it becomes a planning problem
real landscapes. real evidence. faster decisions
Understand the baseline. Find the opportunity. Make better decisions earlier.
BNG can influence land take, design, planning, cost and programme.
Yet developers can spend significant time commissioning detailed surveys before they have a strategic view of the biodiversity position surrounding their development.
Nature Equity starts differently.
We use our National Habitat Foundation Model to rapidly understand the landscape, establish an evidence-backed pre-survey BNG baseline and identify where biodiversity risk and opportunity are likely to lie.
Then we help you decide where detailed ecological expertise should be deployed.
UNDERSTAND → OPTIMISE → VERIFY → DELIVER
01 know earlier
do not wait until bng becomes
a design problem
provide certainity over site selection & development
A development does not start with a biodiversity-unit requirement.
It starts with choices.
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Where should the development footprint go?
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Which habitats should be avoided?
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What is likely to be lost?
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What could be retained?
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Can BNG be delivered on-site?
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What land surrounding the development could provide a better solution?
And what might the eventual BNG requirement cost?
The most valuable BNG calculation is the one you make while you can still change the design.
Nature Equity gives developers an early, landscape-scale view of their likely BNG position before committing to the full survey and mitigation programme.
See the problem while you still have choices.
02real landscapes need real evidence
a satellite image is useful.
the landscape knows more.
nature is too complicated to understand from one map, one model
So we do not rely on one.
Our Habitat Foundation Model combines multiple sources of environmental evidence including:
Land cover + Priority habitats + Woodland + Agricultural history + Soils + Hydrology + Designations (SSI,SAC,SPAC, LNR)
+ Earth observation + Infrastructure + Landscape context
These are resolved through governed classification rules, evidence precedence, provenance and confidence.
Instead of simply asking:
“What does this land look like?”
we ask:
“What does the evidence tell us this land is?”
That produces our Silver Label, an evidence-backed pre-survey interpretation of habitat designed for rapid screening and decision-making.
Not a substitute for ecological survey. Then we work with our partners to provide a ecological surveyed Gold Label only where it is needed to confirm
condition.
A better way of deciding where ecological survey matters.
03 find the better bng answer
before you buy units,
Find out whether you need to.
bng is not simply a calculation
It is a design problem.
Avoiding the loss of valuable habitat can be better than compensating for it later.
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Changing a boundary may change the calculation.
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Retaining one habitat and enhancing another may change the calculation again.
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And land beyond the development boundary may offer completely different options.
Nature Equity allows developers to explore those choices earlier.
AVOID
Identify habitats where impact could create disproportionate BNG consequences.
MINIMISE
Explore how design changes could reduce habitat loss.
ENHANCE
Identify opportunities within the development.
EXPAND
Search the surrounding landscape for credible off-site opportunities.
COMPARE
Understand the potential BNG and economic consequences of different approaches.
Do not optimise the biodiversity-unit purchase.
Optimise the BNG strategy.
04 speed where it matters
not every hectare needs
the same level of attention
we provide comprehensive site, catchment, county and national screening. So you can focus
The traditional sequence can be expensive because specialist ecological investigation begins before the developer necessarily knows where the material risks and opportunities lie.
We reverse that logic.
SCREEN WIDELY. INVESTIGATE SELECTIVELY.
SILVER
Rapid, governed, current, evidence-backed habitat intelligence.
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TARGET
Identify the habitats, boundaries and opportunities that could materially affect the BNG strategy.
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VERIFY
Deploy ecologists and field surveys only where professional verification is required.
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GOLD
Verified evidence supporting detailed design and statutory BNG assessment.
This means expert ecological time can be concentrated on the decisions that need expert judgement.
Machine scale where possible. Human expertise where valuable.
Faster intelligence. Earlier options. Better-targeted surveys. Less wasted investigation.
05 BNG is only the begining
the same hectare can solve
more than one problem
develop your climate resilience strategy
A developer may arrive at Nature Equity looking for a BNG assessment.
But biodiversity does not exist independently of the landscape.
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The land that could provide biodiversity gain may also sit within a flood pathway.
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Alongside a river.
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Within a water-stressed catchment.
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On carbon-rich soil.
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Inside a strategic nature-recovery network.
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Or beside a community that could benefit from investment in accessible nature.
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Because Nature Equity HabFM model sits within Nature Equity’s wider Terrain Foundation Platform , we can look beyond the statutory BNG calculation and ask:
What else could this investment achieve?
BNG + WATER + FLOOD RESILIENCE + CARBON + NATURE RECOVERY + COMMUNITY VALUE
The opportunity you have is to turn a regulatory requirement into the starting point for a wider environmental investment strategy.
The same hectare can solve more than one problem.
how we work together
12 - engagement
01
ORDER investment case study
FREE. ORDER ONE OF OUR PREPARED CASE STUDIES
Methodology, workflow, technical outputs and investment insights from a real project.
02
order silver label bng baseline
FIXED PRICE. 4 WEEKS. INVESTMENT REPORT FOR CATCHMENT
A discovery workshop that leads on to a tangible, professional deliverable applied to your own assets and catchments.
03
develop bng strategy
PROJECT DELIVERY
Region-wide asset exposure, opportunity mapping and prioritised investment programme.
04
design mitigation package
LONG-TERM STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
Governed terrain, hydrology and asset and nature intelligence maintained across your estate covering natural flood management, natural capital accounts, biodiversity, water quality, and carbon accounting.
request more information
enquiry
I you are developer and want to understand more about our BNG assessment services for national significant infrastructure (NSIP) then please complete this contact form
don't run into delays in consenting process
The average planning delay from opposition to major infrastructure projects in the UK is currently 490 days with some projects taking 5 years in planning. Do not underestimate the need for verifiable BNG, robust resilience and demonstrable mitigation package. It needs to be an integrated robust and trusted package based on the best available evidence that gains the community full support.
Our rapid BNG Silver Label assessment and mitigation roadmap is designed for major infrastructure projects with large and complex needs and long time horizons and goes beyond simple green labels and efficiency standards to address the issue of how we develop for resilience, nature positive outcomes and community support.
06 - our advantage
before you commission the bng answer, understand the bng problem
Whether you are assessing a single development, an NSIP or an entire development pipeline, Nature Equity can rapidly establish the landscape context, identify likely BNG risks and opportunities and help determine where detailed ecological investigation should go next.
REAL LANDSCAPES. REAL EVIDENCE. FASTER DECISIONS.
Bring us the site before you buy the units.
Request a BNG Assessment.