Review of environmental assessment in UK building construction: Current awareness, concerns and issues

Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the recognized procedure for ensuring that the potential environmental effects of new building or engineering development are considered before planning approval is consented. There is no doubt that all construction projects have a profound effect upon their environs and therefore accurate and reliable environmental assessment is essential. As the concept of environmental assessment perpetuates and experience grows through application, greater attention is being directed towards the evaluation of its effectiveness. This paper focuses specifically on this issue. Drawing upon a series of interviews with respondents from regional planning authorities and local planning department offices, investigation identifies current thoughts, highlights some of the principal concerns and issues that have arisen in early application, and views the likely future orientation of environmental assessment in the UK. The principal intention of this paper is to review current opinion on environment assessment procedures and practice at this time. Many aspects concerning the concept, principles and practices of EA, some of which start to emerge in this paper, remain for future research and investigation.