Delta-Simons Passes EIA Quality Mark Review With Commendation

The Delta-Simons Environmental Planning Services (EPS) team is proud to announce that we have successfully passed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Quality Mark review.

The EIA Quality Mark is a scheme operated by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), signalling our commitment to excellence in our EIA activities and which has undergone independent review. 

Who Are The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)?

IEMA is a worldwide alliance of over 14,000 environment and sustainability professionals. IEMA provides recognised standards and practices aimed at helping the business world to become more sustainable and future-proof. IEMA is moving businesses forward with a vision of transforming the world to sustainability.

In 2011, IEMA launched the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Quality Mark, bringing a new standard for businesses that deliver Environmental Impact Assessments.

What Is The EIA Quality Mark?

This Quality Mark is the industry standard for benchmarking high quality when taking projects through the EIA process and producing standalone environmental chapters. The assessment process requires that we have produced high-quality Environmental Statements and Chapters in a way that is controlled using detailed management practices and can assess likely environmental impacts of projects effectively and at a high level. In order to pass the EIA Quality Mark Review, our team had to demonstrate adherence to the following 7 commitments:

1. EIA Management
2. EIA Team Capabilities
3. EIA Regulatory Compliance
4. EIA Context & Influence
5. EIA Content
6. EIA Presentation
7. Improving EIA practice

The EIA Quality Mark also requires that we have highly functional quality assurance/checking protocols alongside document and information management systems in place.

What Happens During The EIA Quality Mark Review?

As part of IEMA’s EIA Quality Mark compliance review, IEMA conducted a number of interviews with members of our Environmental Planning team. The interviews provided information that was used to assess our Delta-Simons’ compliance against two of the EIA Quality Mark’s commitments

Additionally, IEMA reviews our submitted Environmental Statement (ES), submitted by our team, assessing our organisation’s compliance against four of the EIA Quality Mark’s commitments.

Compliance with the EIA Quality Mark is graded on a traffic light ranking system. Based on the findings of IEMA’s review, Delta-Simons has been awarded:

• COM1: EIA Management  - Pass
• COM2: EIA Team Capabilities  - Pass
• COM3: EIA Regulatory Compliance  - Pass
• COM4: EIA Context & Influence  - Pass
• COM5: EIA Content  - Pass
• COM6: EIA Presentation  - Pass

The IEMA commended our team on;

“The use of ‘everyday’ questions, such as ‘How noisy will the construction work be?’ in the Non-Technical Summary is commendable as an attempt to ‘translate’ technical assessments into language that the average reader can understand.”

Environmental Planning Consultant Rhianne Speight, who was instrumental in preparing the team for the review said;

“Working on the EIA Quality Mark review this summer helped me appreciate the importance of the IEMA commitment criteria in creating a suitably scoped Environmental Statement. I am very proud of our Environmental Planning team and the technical specialists who helped us achieve the Quality Mark.”

What Does The EIA Quality Mark Mean For Our Clients?

As a voluntary scheme, achieving the EIA Quality Mark is not a requirement to prove competency however, as for organisations looking to improve their working practices and professionalism, EIA Quality Mark reviews are an effective measure of continued commitment and accountability.

Environmental Planning Unit Director, Simon Johnson stated;

“Following substantial strengthening in a number of key disciplines and the growth of the Environmental Planning Service over the last five years, it is fantastic to have passed our EIA Quality Mark review. The EIA Quality Mark reassures our clients that we perform at the highest level, delivering commercially sound solutions and assessments to help projects come to fruition.”

For our clients, the EIA IEMA Quality Marks are a signal of reliability, trust and confidence in the services that we are delivering.

Environmental Planning

Our Environmental Planning and Development services support our clients through the different stages of the development lifecycle, ranging from initial constraints mapping to technical support on planning site delivery.

Our commercially focused project managers have extensive knowledge of technical and planning issues, working knowledge of Environmental Permitting as well as practical experience of project implementation. As such we recognise the importance of de-risking your project at planning stage to secure robust, commercially viable and deliverable consents.

We will pull together and manage the right team for your project from a combination of in-house specialists and a network of independent associate companies who are experts in their respective fields to provide competitive service offerings. Each project will be managed by a senior member of the Delta-Simons team providing a single point of contact for your project duration.  

Our Environmental Planning team support a range of sectors including commercial, residential and mixed-use development, low carbon and renewable technologies, waste utilities and industrial.

We have extensive experience in managing and producing EIA screening letters, EIA Scoping Reports and Environmental Statement scopes to focus on the significant, decision-influencing issues to provide our clients with a pragmatic and robust Environmental Statement that explores the concerns of the planning authority and its key stakeholder. Our expert team of in-house and approved suppliers allows us to bring tailored teams of experts to offer the full range of EIA services, including;

• Water resources assessments (including flood risk, surface water drainage and groundwater)
• Air quality, greenhouse gases and odour assessment
• Landscape and visual impact assessments
• Ecology surveys and assessment
• Cultural heritage and archaeology assessments
• Noise and vibration surveys and assessments
• Traffic and transport assessments, incl. transport statements and travel plans 
• Socio-economics – effects on local communities
• Health impacts assessment
• Ground conditions
• Natural disasters and major incidents

If you are looking to partner with an environmentally conscious, Environmental Impact Assessment consultancy, get in touch with our team by emailing info@deltasimons.com.