Udall-Martin Associates year has started off at a pace with moving into new office premises and also employing a new Senior Ecologist. Our business is going from strength to strength, with a variety of interesting projects keeping us busy and working throughout the UK.
We can now provide additional services to our clients, enabling a more multi-disciplinary approach. We are part of two major framework agreements providing the full range of ecological services and have forged close ties with a leading building environmental sustainability company, based in South Yorkshire, solely providing all their ecological requirements.
Additional Services
Udall-Martin Associates is pleased to announce that our company working in close co-operation with several highly experienced associates can now provide additional services including arboricultural work, contaminated land and all aspects of land management.
New Office
On the 1st February 2016 we moved into our new office at The Wyche Innovation Centre on the side of the Malvern Hills, within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Centre is a hub for innovating businesses in the local area and enjoys stunning views of the Malvern Hills, the Herefordshire countryside and beyond to the Welsh mountains.
Framework Agreements
Udall-Martin Associates are part of two major public sector framework agreements, whereby our company provides full ecological services for a period of two to four years. We have also recently formed close ties with a company based in South Yorkshire who are a leading multi-disciplinary organisation in the building environmental sustainability sector. We are now providing this highly successful company with all their ecological service requirements,; ranging from ecological work towards planning applications, and mitigation works on-site through to BREEAM Ecology assessments.
Recent Projects
- Bat surveys of churches in Herefordshire and Worcestershire (we found one of the UKs rare bat species, the lesser horseshoe bat, at one of the churches).
- Protected species surveys of proposed residential development sites in Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
- On-going protected species surveys at a former hospital site in Lincolnshire.
- Great crested newt on-site mitigation works for an archeological dig as part of a primary school development on the Isle of Anglesey (the archeology revealed the largest Neolithic site in Wales)
- Bat house construction at Donington Park Racing Circuit in Leicestershire.
- European Protected Species mitigation licenses for bats for a variety of projects including for maintenance works to a Grade II listed hotel in Leicestershire, demolition of former industrial buildings in Staffordshire and repairs to churches in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
- Extended Phase-1 habitat surveys of a brownfield site in Yorkshire, small urban sites in Herefordshire, greenfield sites in Bedfordshire and Gloucestershire, a nursery site in South Wales and an acid grassland site adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Birmingham.
- We also continue to provide a range of ecological services to Derbyshire County Council for their primary school developments and maintenance works. We have provided such services to the council annually since 2009.
On-site Ecological Mitigation
Our first ecological mitigation project for 2016 is on the Isle of Anglesey for a proposed new primary school. We have obtained a EPS mitigation licence for great crested newts from Natural Resources Wales and are all set to install the amphibian fencing and carry out a capture and translocation exercise in February/March 2016 for the main construction works. We will also be involved with construction of great crested newt hibernaculum and a new wildlife pond.
A second mitigation project is for reptiles for a major infrastructure development site in Worcestershire, with the on-site mitigation works including reptile fencing installation and a capture and translocation exercise to be started in April 2016. As part of this work, in summer 2015 we created basking banks and hibernation habitat on the reptile receptor site.
Looking Ahead
We are excited about the coming year, with numerous projects already on the go and eagerly awaiting new contracts. If we can be of assistance with your development we would be happy to hear from you. We can provide the complete service; from initial advice to carrying out ecological surveys for planning applications, on-site mitigation works, BREEAM/CfSH ecology assessments to ecological aftercare and monitoring.