How To Minimise Wildlife Disruption During Your Build Project

When you’re finally commencing your exciting build project, you should pay heed to more than just your own welfare. The decisions you make here affect the world around you, and there’s a great deal at stake. 

There’s often an unfortunate irony in construction; as people build themselves safe spaces to live and work, they also destroy the habitats of creatures nearby. Some will shrug off these destructive tendencies, but today attitudes, mindsets, and laws are undoubtedly changing for the better. 

You now have more of a weighted responsibility to minimise wildlife disruption during your build project. Whether you’re partaking in some self-building or exclusively hiring professionals, you can be proactive in these situations. Read on for some suggestions on how you can help here.

Hire Top Tier Surveyors

Most people hire surveyors to meet compliance procedures and speed up their planning application processes for a smoother construction experience. That’s valid, but it’s also important to hire a competent service that genuinely upholds the interests of local wildlife.

Working with the right service, you’ll find that there are only three simple steps to getting a bat survey: getting your quote, booking your survey, and receiving your report. The booking form will be straightforward to complete, and there’ll be no hidden fees to catch you off guard! Things will move ahead without delay.

Bat survey assessments are incredibly intricate when you hire quality help. These measures ascertain whether the creatures are active on the proposed development site and provide further insights into how many bats are present and what species they are. After that, creative minds put their heads together and devise ways to proceed with a project that doesn’t endanger the bats. You may be part of these discussions if you’re self-building where you can, so heed all the guidelines you’re given. 

Surveyors can measure other types of things too. For example, tree surveyors are just as essential, and bats will probably appreciate them as well! There are more general ecology surveys too. All of these checks are mandatory, prioritising the well-being of wildlife and ensuring your construction efforts don’t threaten them.

Review Laws 

As stated earlier, not everybody is equally motivated to minimise wildlife disruption. While the creatures should be looked after in their own right, it can be worth revisiting how negligence can impact you directly.

For example, it’s illegal to kill, capture, injure, disturb, or disperse bats in any fashion. You can be persecuted if you are found to have engaged in or authorised these activities through rogue builders. Licences and surveyors are essential and non-negotiable.

Even if your hearts are in the right place, stupid decisions that harm wildlife during your build can still be taken. After all, some people can get a little bit power-hungry when a construction project is underway and believe all their decisions and actions are flawless and that their personal intervention is always necessary. Don’t lose common sense when realising lifelong ambitions; always defer to expert guidance.

Develop Your Eco Goals

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) involves ensuring habitats are in a better condition post-construction development. There’s a mandatory BNG of 10% in construction, and that’s just the minimal figure. Surveyors outline the essential steps that need to be taken to meet the minimum targets. Still, why not take things a step further here? You could incorporate more habitat-friendly elements into your home at some stage.

You can’t alter build design plans radically when development is underway. However, you can note what’s underway and make additional plans for a future date. Perhaps you could have a turf-based roof, install a pond nearby, or develop a number of additional qualities that promote the nearby wildlife population.

There’s often more you can be doing here, even if you must adhere to something of a rigid timetable when it comes to construction plans. That said, every day is a learning opportunity, and you can keep developing your eco goals all the time. New technologies and materials are being introduced all the time, as well. Try to be excited by all of these prospects and keep an open mind.

Monitor Pollution

You’re likely aware that pollution can harm wildlife of all types. This isn’t rocket science. At the same time, the construction industry is responsible for much of the pollution we all see today. Mismanaged sites can improperly dispose of waste or overly rely on hazardous chemicals that produce harmful vapours. Glues, oils, plastic, and paints all fall into this category. 

Sadly, noise pollution can also affect creatures in various ways, affecting how they breed, where they migrate to, and even just their general sense of well-being. The animals can quickly become lost and afraid due to noise pollution, which are unacceptable experiences to subject them to. Light pollution can be similarly disruptive, so schedule the build to shut down the moment artificial lighting would otherwise be required. 

You may feel your powers are somewhat limited here if you’re merely the customer, not the construction professional. However, you can absolutely put your foot down and cease work if you identify anything abhorrent. Reporting the so-called professionals, you’re dealing with to higher authorities is also valid.

Kerbing Fire Risks

You may spend some time on a construction site to review progress and confer with the professionals you’ve hired. While you’re there, you could also watch for fire risks and report anything you don’t like the look of. If you’re self-building, then these potential hazards should certainly be on your mind.

The construction crews should have fire safety regulations to adhere to and fire safety officers to ensure compliance. That said, one can never be too careful, and keeping a close eye on these environments is probably a good idea. If you spot any irregularities, not only could you prevent accidents and injury to those on-site, but you should also prevent fire damage from spreading to nearby habitats as well.

It may be worth reviewing workplace fire safety policies that could grant more insights. Once you feel more informed, you may feel more confident in exerting your judgement. Fires can spread incredibly quickly, so there is a tremendous amount at stake with your competence here. Ultimately, a secure build site means wildlife around it will be safe.