EIA Community discussion: The role of monitoring in supporting environmental improvement
This event is free for IES members.
Monitoring is an essential part of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process. It measures whether the environmental impacts of a project are as expected and determines whether mitigation measures are effective. This allows for adaptive management throughout a project lifecycle and can be used to support greater understanding of the effectiveness of different mitigation methods, which in turn can be used to improve future project EIAs. However, monitoring can also be challenging and resource-intensive, so it is essential that we develop robust monitoring methodologies that can be used to inform future EIAs and project design.
This EIA Community discussion will explore the role of monitoring in projects and how it can be used to support environmental improvement. The event will feature insightful lightning provocations and presentations, touching on both construction-phase monitoring and operational-phase monitoring, as well as plenty of time for interactive discussion.
The presentations will provide EIA professionals with examples of where construction-phase and operational-phase monitoring have been done on nationally significant infrastructure projects and the challenges and opportunities involved in these. They will also consider how monitoring methods can be developed to support feasible and effective monitoring plans.
The event will bring together environmental professionals from across specialisms working in EIAs, the built environment and construction to support interdisciplinary learning and discussion.
Our speakers
Richard Bernhardt - Post Opening Project Evaluation at National Highways
Richard is a Senior Evaluation Analyst at National Highways and leads on the environmental evaluation of major road schemes across England. He has over 30 years of experience in the environmental field including time spent regulating the waste management industry, supporting the development of Producer Responsibility regimes and overseeing environmental impact assessments.
Since 2017 Richard had been responsible for delivering the environmental elements of National Highways’ Post Opening Project Evaluation process. In this time, he has introduced new methods to standardise and improve evaluation site visits and developed and adopted new GIS tools to better capture and communicate evidence and insight.
Based in Manchester he is/was a keen follower of Salford Red Devils rugby league club.
Joseph Mendis: From plan to practice – Environmental noise & vibration monitoring during construction
Joseph holds a BSc (Hons) in Aerospace Engineering from Kingston University in London, a post graduate Diploma in Acoustics and is also a Member of the Institute of Acoustics – MIOA.
He has twenty-three years of experience in the assessment of environmental noise and vibration impacts within transportation, utilities, and urban development projects. Joseph has undertaken numerous Environmental Noise Impact Assessments, BS 4142 / Industrial Noise Assessments, BREEAM Assessments, Section 61 Assessments, Ambient Noise and Vibration Surveys, and Construction Noise and Vibration Impact Assessments.
Joseph’s current role is Acoustics, Noise & Vibration Lead for Costain. He also leads the Construction & Operational Noise & Vibration scope of works with Costain’s joint venture with Skanska and Strabag to deliver the HS2 tunnels section, London Tunnels S1 and S2.
More to be announced!
Header image credit: © Viliam via Adobe Stock
