Arup Environmental Statement goes digital
Jessica is an Associate in Consulting West and specialises in the environmental delivery of highway Development Consent Order (DCO) projects @ArupGroup.
We are pleased to be launching Arup’s new digital Environmental Statement. We’ve taken all 387 documents that make up a traditional Environmental Statement that was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate as part of a DCO application — and created a digital version. The Digital Environmental Statement enables people to examine the environmental context of a scheme in an interactive and intuitive way.
The digital Environmental Statement is specially designed to be simple to navigate so visitors can find information quickly and easily. It contains interactive maps, reports and figures — which can be explored from your mobile, tablet or computer.
Why it matters
Environmental information is critical to ensure the environmental and social effects of development proposals are understood prior to decisions being made. They are a crucial part of the design evolution and environmental impact assessment process for major developments and should aid and inform stakeholder participation in decision-making. We wanted to make sure the process of engagement on environmental topics is efficient, effective and accessible.
Advantages of the Arup approach
- Accessibility: The site can be viewed from your mobile, tablet or computer. People can navigate the site, opening pdfs to read more detailed information to help them understand the impact of the development on topics that interest them. This could be anything from the impact on a local footpath to noise on a property. This offers users the opportunity to explore the environmental information from the comfort of their home, which is especially important now.
- Collaboration and communication: By offering greater convenience, a wider range of views and opinions on environmental concerns can be fed into the planning process. This facilitates active collaboration which can contribute to and enable development acceptance long term.
- Virtual engagement: The site can help support virtual engagement when physical meetings, hearings and inquiries are not possible.
- Supporting the planning process: The Environmental Statement is required to enable all interested parties to develop an informed view of the likely significant environmental effects of a development to support the planning process.
- Environmental footprint: Material printing and production associated with physical copies of the document are removed. The A417 Environmental Statement is 9356 pages so by presenting this digitally, we conserve energy and paper, reduce impact and save money.
To experience Arup’s Digital Environmental Statement on the A417 click here to enter the site. A brief demonstration of the site is available here — more videos are available on the “how to” tab on the site.
Get in touch
This has been a successful collaboration with the Digital Insight West Team. If you would like to discuss how Arup can tailor an Environmental Statement for your needs and brand identity please contact them here.
The Arup Digital Environmental Statement can be tailored to fit client needs and brand identities.
If you would like to learn more about Digital at Arup, you can meet the team and read more about their work here. The team are always open to feedback and new digital ideas that help us shape a better world.
WRITTEN BY Jessica Postance @ArupGroup
Associate | Consulting West | Environment
