Environmental, social and governance (ESG) plays an increasingly significant role within the development of new urban logistics schemes.
Here, I have explored how Chancerygate implements best ESG practices to protect and improve the land we’re developing and the local ecology, as well as reduce energy usage, using Tonbridge Trade Park in Kent as a working example.
Providing betterment of a brownfield site
Developing on brownfield sites is a sustainable form of development reducing the need to develop in the countryside. 86% per cent of Chancerygate’s developments constructed in the last three years have been on brownfield land.
When regenerating a brownfield site, there is a requirement, through the planning system, to remediate the land to a condition from which it can be developed.
All remediation work must meet the agreed requirements of regulatory bodies, such as the Environment Agency (EA) and local authorities. These agreements are usually to either reduce the level of contamination below screening target levels or achieve a betterment level.
Remediation was the critical first step of our development at Tonbridge Trade Park. The site was previously a tar distillery, which had caused extensive soil and ground water contamination.
Although the land had been extensively remediated over the prior 20 years, it hadn’t been improved sufficiently to meet the required levels for meaningful use.
Through the work undertaken by Chancerygate, we were able to bring a contaminated site back into use for commercial development, which benefits the local area and supports economic growth.
You can read more about the remediation work which was undertaken at Tonbridge in our previous Gateway article on the subject.
Energy efficiency
From a sustainability perspective, our target when developing is to improve the energy efficiency of the units through installing infrastructure to generate renewable energy. One method of achieving this is solar cell technology.
At Tonbridge Trade Park, five of the units have solar cells on their roofs which provide up to 35 per cent of the units’ energy needs. In total around 280 solar cells were installed at the development.
The reduction in energy consumption through using solar cells is a positive one. Through this sustainable technology, there was a 14 per cent saving in predicted energy consumption and an 18 per cent reduction in predicted carbon dioxide emissions.
The use of solar cells also improves the EPC rating of the units through the increase in the energy efficiency of the accommodation in line with regulatory requirements.
Ecological enhancements
A key aspect of any development’s ESG strategy must be to protect and enhance the ecological landscape of a site and the surrounding area. This should not only incorporate protecting native species of animals, but also the wider wildlife, such as plants, woodlands and waterways.
At Tonbridge, we planted shade-tolerant wildflower seed mixture and, in areas which would act as a land drain, a marsh grassland mix. Both of these were used to provide additional habitats for local species of invertebrate. The inclusion of a diverse pollen-rich planting scheme also increases opportunities for invertebrates.
Additional landscape planting was introduced to encourage bats to visit the site for foraging resources. We also added two bat boxes on the edge of the development to support any roosting bats which may be in the area.
Although there were no recordings of birds, we installed a number of nest boxes on the trees to increase possible nesting and the landscape planting offered additional nesting and foraging opportunities.
A focus on ESG
It’s critical for developers to keep ESG front of mind when creating much-needed urban logistics accommodation.
From regenerating brownfield sites to enhancing local ecology, we passionately believe that we need to take steps to promote sustainable practices and the green agenda.
To find out more about our approach to ESG at Tonbridge Trade Park, call Tom Faulkner on DL: 020 7657 1857, M: 07823 330 853 or E: tfaulkner@chancerygate.com.
