Introducing the Nature Assessment Tool for Urban and Rural Environments NATURE

The NATURE tool

WSP and the Ecosystems Knowledge Network, in collaboration with Alister Scott from Northumbria University, co-developed the tool together with over 30 built environment industry and stakeholder partners to assess and implement net gains for the environment at project-scale. We believe the NATURE Tool will enable a step-change in how the built environment professions think about new development, enabling them to implement net-gains for the environment through transparent and objective assessments against clearly defined objectives. Overall, the NATURE Tool will not only help to make future land-use more sustainable, but also to enable the built environment sector to play a more positive role by becoming a net-contributor to tackling environmental issues – a potential game-changer.

Ihave also led the production of an interim reportt from workshops across the UK involving built and natural  environment professionals. This helped to identify key hooks for the tool within diffrent stages of the policy and development pipelines that forms part of our planning systems.