About the development project
Environment Bank worked with real estate developer Panattoni to help discharge their biodiversity planning condition and enable a large development project to go ahead, delivering comprehensive support throughout the planning process and providing high-integrity Biodiversity Units.
Panattoni needed a suitable off-site biodiversity solution for a 200,000 sq ft logistics project on a 10-acre brownfield site in Manor Royal. With free space in the area relatively scarce due, in part, to Gatwick Airport located nearby, finding the land to deliver biodiversity gains posed a challenge – but we were able to provide a solution.
With construction finishing in the autumn of 2024, Panattoni Park Crawley is well placed to provide essential logistical access across London and the southeast. Importantly, the centre boasts several key sustainable and energy efficient build features to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and ‘A’ EPC rating.
Extensive legal and planning support
Panattoni required biodiversity gains to help meet their ‘no net loss’ requirements as outlined in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) prior to mandatory BNG. With local areas for habitat restoration extremely scarce in the Crawley area, and all options for on-site biodiversity gains fully exhausted, an off-site solution was the best possible way to restore habitats sufficiently.
This project was submitted before mandatory BNG. With the Biodiversity Gains Site register yet to be launched, there were very few mechanisms in place to account for off-site Habitat Bank solutions like what we had to offer, so we provided comprehensive support to the council throughout the process.
At the time, our team were treading mostly uncharted waters and their success is testament to their skill and creative approach. They worked diligently to ultimately secure a solution that worked for both Panattoni and Crawley Borough Council.
We established a governance covenant through which we agreed to provide all our habitat monitoring data for Panattoni’s Biodiversity Units to the council until such a time where a s106 agreement could be secured and the Habitat Bank could be registered through the Gains Site.
"As this was one of Panattoni’s first schemes under the new BNG regulations, and local offsetting options are particularly scarce in Crawley, Environment Bank stepped in to help. Over the course of 10 months, Environment Bank worked with Panattoni and our consultants to get to a position where the LPA were happy for us to proceed with the development. It was hard, but with support from Environment Bank and their legal team led by Alexa Culver, we got there." Joshua Butler, Senior Project Manager, Panattoni.
Supporting large-scale recovery in the south
To satisfy Panettoni’s pre-occupation conditions for this project, we provided woodland and grassland Biodiversity Units from our Blackboys Habitat Bank which sits in the National Character Area just adjacent to the development site.
By creating a dedicated Habitat Bank over a space of 16 hectares in rural East Sussex, we are able deliver biodiversity gains at scale. This site can be closely monitored by our team of ecologists over the next three decades as it develops.
With members of the community able to access the Habitat Bank through its multiple footpaths, we’re excited to see this space thrive over the years – with a growing number of key species building in abundance such as bullfinches, hedgehogs, hazel dormice, great crested newts, and serotine bats.
"Working with Panattoni, the largest private commercial developer in Europe, has been a great highlight for me. We’d like to thank everyone at Panattoni and Crawley Council who worked in collaboration with us on this project. We’re delighted to help provide BNG solutions and support developers as they adapt to new requirements. We look forward to working with Panattoni again in the future." Alexa Culver, General Counsel, Environment Bank.
