Leading environmental and design firm FPCR has more than doubled its presence in Yorkshire following a successful 12 months, growing from a four-person satellite office to a 10-strong team.
The consultancy, based at the National Agri-Food Innovation Campus (NAFIC) near York, provides clients with ecological, arboricultural, landscape, architectural, master-planning and urban design advice. The team specialises in ecology projects and is supported by colleagues in a wider network of FPCR offices across the UK, offering further multi-disciplinary expertise.
Initially using the NAFIC office to support Yorkshire-based clients with one-off projects, the team’s work now covers projects across the North East, North West and Scotland, including residential and commercial developments and regeneration and restoration sites, to ensure protected species and habitats are safeguarded.
This work includes detailed surveying for species and habitats by specialist ecologists and making recommendations on how best to work with the site’s environment while maintaining compliance with planning and nature conservation legislation. Species surveyed include reptiles, crayfish, water voles, otters, great crested newts, bats, veteran trees and a number of invasive plants.
James Eales, Associate Director Ecology at FPCR York, said: “We wanted to test the water for business in the region and so took on a small office and since that point two years ago, we’ve seen not only our staff numbers grow rapidly but we’ve moved into bigger offices and have developed our range of services to respond to our clients’ needs.
“Our ecology work now covers post-planning as much as pre-planning, working with clients to assess potential ecological concerns and to implement the recommendations that we make. This can include building habitats for the species present and supervising site demolition, ensuring that we provide the best environmental solutions with a full understanding of the commercial challenges for clients.”
From the York base, the FPCR team is currently involved in planning applications for the restoration of a number of waste recycling sites across the region for a major property developer, as well as smaller projects such as barn conversions for private individuals in collaboration with their architects and a range of residential and commercial developments across the region. The company has also just completed work on a major Leeds-based viaduct planning consent project for residential and commercial development.
