Services Infrastructure & Environment

I&E Infrastructure & Environment

Our future places need to optimise human comfort and have a net zero or net positive impact on the environment and climate. To do this we need to understand and reimagine existing environmental constraints as valuable opportunities, and develop new electrical, heat or hydrogen infrastructure alongside water, waste and data services in a single system. Hilson Moran brings this together under a single inter-disciplinary consultancy.

Infrastructure & Environment

To optimise human comfort and have a net zero or net positive impact on the environment and climate we have developed a number of digital design tools, including our Healthy Cities Assessment Tool.

This parametric design optimisation tool allows competing metrics to be modelled simultaneously across all seasons, giving insight into the interaction of environmental and energy variables and allowing mitigations to be tested to derive optimal outputs. The benefit is a speedier design process and more certainty on costs and programme.

We operate throughout the development value chain; from pre-planning, due diligence and planning to the design, construction and operational phases. We help enable the procurement of utilities and decentralised energy services across major development, regeneration and transportation projects.

Our hugely experienced team of infrastructure consultants and environmental scientists cover; contaminated land; hydro-geology and flooding; bio-diversity and pollution (e.g. nitrates and phosphate pollution); air quality; noise and vibration; and microclimate.

The team also has both technical and commercial skillsets, demonstrating techno-economic viability of decentralised energy assets, as well as apportionment of costs between developers and utility undertakers.

Our solutions – typically developed during pre-planning – are fully cognisant of future governance and stewardship implications; whether this be major energy infrastructure or subtle ecological enhancements.

Our commissions range from individual planning reports to large multidisciplinary Environmental Statements to support major developments for both UK and International clients.

We have worked with a highly varied client base from major landowners and institutions to smaller one off or unusual developments. This includes major economic and population growth studies for Local, Regional and National governments; and major transportation and energy projects ranging from transport interchanges and rail extensions to solar energy farms.

Our experience across the UK market has enabled us to work with our clients, such as Canary Wharf, the Olympic Park, Greenwich Peninsula, Alderley Park, Cambridge Science Parks and Royal Docks, as well as with landowners and regional house-builders across a number of new towns and sustainable urban extensions, including Hailsham and Horton Heath.

Our aim is to work with all key stakeholders to deliver value, wellbeing and net positive outcomes – not just to our developer and public sector clients but, importantly, to the wider community.

For more information, please contact Directors Chris Birch and Jason Horner.

INFRASTRUCTURE & ENVIRONMENT CONSULTANCY SERVICES:

Utilities

De-risking development land in terms of existing utilities and utilities capacity constraints
Budget and detailed costs for utilities disconnections, diversions, new connections, networks extensions and off-site network reinforcement

Energy

Local planning and Building Regulation compliant energy strategies
Decentralised energy network viability and optimisation studies
Design development and procurement of decentralised energy and networked low and zero-carbon energy assets
EV charging strategies
On site constraints and off site capacity
Energy resource availability / opportunity

Transport

Feasibility, due diligence and access appraisals
Transport assessments / statements
Travel plans & coordination
Transport masterplanning
Parking assessments
Delivery service plans & construction logistic plans
Sustainable & active travel
Future mobility
Junction modelling & engineering

Environment

Air quality, dust and odour modelling and monitoring
Noise and vibration assessments
Ecological surveys and impact assessment reports
Contaminated land assessments and environmental due diligence
Microclimate & pedestrian comfort studies
Daylight & shadow studies
Flood risk assessments and SuDS strategies,
Waste management strategies
Pollution control advice (including nitrate / phosphate pollution)
Environmental constraints / opportunities

Commercial

Understanding of utility undertaker Deeds, Wayleaves, Leases and Covenants
Procurement of new water, gas, energy and data services
Value-engineering of transport proposals
Techno-economic viability & procurement of decentralised energy
Consolidation of outturn utilities costs.

Development Journey

Infrastructure & Environment Case studies

Arborfield Green: Infrastructure

Arborfield Green is a new 2000-home ‘Garden Village’ incorporated into the regeneration of a former MOD Garrison Town, and includes new primary and secondary schools, a commercial centre, neighbourhood centres and a temporary Film Studios.

The client for the scheme is Crest Nicholson Regeneration and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). Hilson Moran were initially appointed to support Crest Nicholson Regeneration in their commercial bid to become the DIO’s Development Manager, two years ahead of the outline planning application for this new Garden Village.

The initial workstream comprised of a viability study to understand the risks associated with the procurement of new water, wastewater, gas, electricity, and telecommunication services and to determine any abnormal costs. It also included risks and costs associated with diverting existing underground/overhead services. After Crest Nicholson were awarded the bid we were asked to support the outline planning application; preparing various Planning Statements, support the Design and Access Statement and some of the ES Chapters.

As part of the high-level strategic design team, we were appointed to work with the DIO and their utility supply chain to understand how the phased handover of the two operational barracks could be undertaken. This ultimately required the phased removal of private infrastructure and the phased installation of new public infrastructure whilst retaining critical services to operational MOD infrastructure and retained housing.

As part of the primary infrastructure team we prepared a number of phased strategic infrastructure masterplans, which have also been used in support of land sales to third party developers, and the film studio operator. These infrastructure masterplans were used alongside a bespoke technical specification to take to the independent multi-utility marketplace. We supported all mid-tender and post-tender discussions ahead of the appointment of an independent utilities partner. In addition, a bespoke ‘capital clawback’ mechanism was agreed with one of the incumbent utility undertakers.

We have also secured a number of appointments to undertake enabling works ahead of Reserved Matters applications for development parcels that have subsequently been brought forward. For each of these parcels we have also been commissioned to undertake tender and construction issue coordinated services detail.

Hilson Moran has also been appointed to deliver tender and construction stage design detail for some of the development parcels that have since been sold to third-party developers.

Royal Albert Dock: Infrastructure

The Royal Albert Dock project entails the development of a new 4,000,000 sq ft business district by ABP (London) Investments Ltd in East London located opposite City Airport. With a contract value of £1.7B, a number of Hilson Moran’s design teams have worked on the scheme, including our Infrastructure Group.

Our Infrastructure Services team was engaged very early in the development of the masterplan and a number of pre-planning technical and commercial studies: We were able to take the ‘Hilson Moran Energy Statement’ and develop this into a tangible options study, setting out costs and risks associated with various district energy propositions. These included connections from a nearby off-site facility; an onsite facility developed under a design, build, operate and maintain Concession Agreement; and, interestingly, a developer managed Special Purpose Vehicle. All options were presented with planning, design, phasing, economic, procurement, and governance options and risks.

Our team also developed the design and technical specification for much of the Enabling Works Contract, which included the diversion of services around an existing DLR Station. We developed the design and technical specification for the onsite electrical infrastructure through an ICP; the onsite fibre infrastructure through the ‘Alt-Net’ and fibre ‘Carrier’ market; and developed the off-site electrical procurement strategy (under a LDDC Legacy Agreement) with UK Power Networks.

Hilson Moran developed the coordinated onsite services design, including; sewerage, district heating and district cooling networks, district fire-fighting, potable water, power, voice-data-video and all public realm security and lighting infrastructure; and put this into a fully 3D BIM model in Revit, from which 2D construction drawings were then provided.

Our team also coordinated the design and procurement of a fully connected smart public realm, to capture lighting, lighting control, security, EV Charging, public Wi-Fi and mobile telephony.

Barking Riverside: Infrastructure

Located on the site of the former Barking Power Station (a 180 hectare brownfield site with 2km of river frontage), this development is one of the UK’s largest urban regeneration projects and includes a £263million rail extension within its boundary. The masterplan aims to provide over 10,000 new residential homes (Stages 2, 3 and 4 contain 9,484 new homes, a new District Centre, new Neighbourhood Centres, a Port Quarter, leisure facilities, shops and restaurants; effectively 65,000 m2 of commercial space). The whole development will transform a former industrial part of east London and shift the centre of London eastwards.

Hilson Moran’s specialist utilities team (Infrastructure Services) has undertaken a number of discrete workstreams all relating to utilities and energy infrastructure.

Initially – and innovatively – Hilson Moran was initially asked to develop a temporary power and water strategy in order to limit the expenditure on new connections to the existing network, and limit the need to secure additional off-site power given the need to provide temporary power to;

Multiple site offices
Multiple welfare facilities
Marketing suites
Multiple concrete silos and tower crane hubs

Hilson Moran therefore developed a temporary services strategy – both schematically and spatially – so that the whole of the temporary works (particularly the actual building supplies – silos and cranes) could roll north to south and east to west through the site over an initial 5 year and then 15-year build programme. This work was undertaken wholly in conjunction with BRL and their groundworks / temporary works contractors, and taken to the utility undertakers for modification and approval as required. A 2^nd iteration of this strategy has just been completed by Hilson Moran and BRL.

Hilson Moran next developed the Utilities Planning Statement in support of the Primary Infrastructure Reserved Matters planning application: This Statement provided details of all the likely alterations to existing utilities infrastructure; and more strategically it provided detail (with evidence from utility undertakers) of the proposed strategy for providing water, heat, power and voice-data-video services to 9,484 new residential dwellings plus associated district and neighbourhood centres, including all public realm.

This Planning Statement also included water and power services for critical infrastructure including – for example – vacuum waste collection, lighting, EV charging, and foul pumping stations.

The utilities planning statement was developed into a Preliminary Infrastructure Appraisal capturing budget costs and risks (financial and programme) associated with the phased delivery of water, power, heat and telecommunications. This included all onsite and off-site risks associated with limited supply capacity and utility investment needs, including the Bilateral Capacity Agreement between SSE and UKPN.

To deliver the Planning Statement and subsequent costs/risks associated with the design and procurement of water, gas, heat, electricity and telecommunications to support 9,484 new homes we had to review water, power and heat requirements at a typical dwelling-level; block-level; parcel-level; district-level and phase-level; and apply diversity at each level in agreement with the incumbent utility undertakers, and each of BRL’s preferred utilities partners (SSE Enterprise, Vital Energi, Envac, Openreach, Virgin and SSE Networks). In addition we had to review landlord needs, electric vehicle charging needs, and future demand-side management/storage need (the district heating network will initially fed by gas CHP).

Barking Riverside Limited has most recently sought from Hilson Moran’s specialist utilities team a series of Design Codes that can be used by the parcel Developer to design the HV and other primary infrastructure within each development parcel. In effect we have broken the site-wide utilities strategies into phases and districts, and for each district provided an HV solution with numbers, locations and technical specifications for each substation in order that the parcel developers can capture the substation needs and ensure that all in-parcel distribution infrastructure would work. For the District Centre these Design Codes are created for high-rise apartments, mid-rise apartments and town-houses for each service type (water, heat, power and telecoms).

Al Thumama Stadium World Cup Football Stadium: Environmental Impact Assessment, Sustainability

Hilson Moran are currently employed to provide environmental consultancy services for multiple football stadia projects for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™, including the Al Thumama Stadium. The stadium will be located in Doha’s southern suburbs in the Al Thumama area holding at least 40,000 fans and host games through to the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ quarter-finals. We have provided environmental and sustainable design services from early phases of concept design through to developed design.

A significant component of our scope was the production of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the development. Our work incorporated detailed environmental assessment studies covering a wide range of disciplines including ecology, air quality, noise, water resources, ground contamination, and visual impacts.

At the outset of the project, we carried out detailed environmental surveys of the existing stadium site including air quality, ecological and ground contamination studies, with predictions of the potential environmental impact of the development made using the latest computations environmental models and where necessary suitable mitigation measures proposed.

The resulting 600 page Environmental Statement report was submitted to the Qatari Governments Supreme Committee in June 2016, with the development successfully approved.

We have subsequently undertaken detailed geo-environmental investigations of the site and prepared a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) to help the contractor minimise the environmental impacts during construction.

Hilson Moran @HilsonMoran

- 1 Jan 1970