Tree Climbing Surveys
HEL are pleased to announce that we now have the in-house ability to undertake tree climbing assessments for bats.  This method is considered the only robust way to survey trees for bat roosts.

New Website
Welcome to our new look website, we hope you enjoy it!  Please let us know if you experience any problems with the use of this site. 

An Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) is an assessment of the potential effects of a proposed development on species, habitats and sites that are of value to conservation or protected by national and/or international legislation.

HEL has extensive experience of producing EcIAs, completing both large and small scale assessments for a range of different clients including wind farm, hydro scheme, pipe-line, industrial, housing and road projects.

Ecological features are evaluated using up-to-date ecological assessment data and potential constraints are identified at an early stage allowing them to be integrated within the project design.  HEL staff work closely with clients and have also established excellent working relationships with relevant statutory bodies and NGO’s ensuring agreement on ecological methods and mitigation.

HEL was commissioned by Scottish and Southern Energy in 2003 to produce an EcIA for the Beauly to Denny Transmission Line. This is one of HEL’s largest on-going projects to date.  The project has involved extensive survey work along the 220km route, including surveying of access tracks and borrow pit areas.  The field surveys identified a range of ecologically significant species and features including; otter, water vole, wildcat, badger, pine marten, red squirrel, bat roosts, reptiles, freshwater pearl mussel, sensitive bird areas and important habitats.

Avoidance of significant ecological effects will be achieved wherever possible by careful routing and location of towers and substations away from ecologically sensitive areas.  Where re-routing is not possible, exclusion zones will be placed around protected species resting up sites and European Protected Species Licences will be gained, where necessary, for temporarily disturbing these species.

The Beauly to Denny Transmission Line has been a great success to date, and damage to sensitive ecological features will be minimal due to the careful design and mitigation of this project.