Partrac awarded 2 new EIA (Marine and coastal physical processes impact assessment) projects

Marine Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a fundamental requirement of any proposed infrastructure development project in the marine sector. To ensure that a project can progress and obtain regulatory approval and consent, a fundamental understanding of the potential impacts of the development upon the physical aspects of the marine and coastal environment is a pre-requisite (physical processes impact assessment); this part also underpins many other aspects of a Marine EIA such as chapters on benthic habitats and marine contamination. The physical aspects includes due consideration of the impacts upon the wave climate and tidal regime, together with impacts on sedimentary processes and geomorphology. For the new generation of large scale floating offshore wind (FLOW) this assessment may also need to consider the impact upon water column processes and stratification; and scouring due to multiple anchorage arrays.

Over recent years Partrac’s consultancy division has completed numerous physical processes impact assessments in marine & coastal settings for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), that include offshore wind, the nuclear sector, and a number of other proposed interconnector and coastal infrastructure developments. Our expertise in this technical area includes a full suite marine modelling (hydrodynamic, sediment transport and morphodynamic) capability and we maintain very good relationships with UK Regulatory authorities that have been developed over time. We pride ourselves on providing a consistently high quality service and navigate our clients through the consenting process from early scoping stage – to full EIA (including expert witness / representation at DCO hearings) – to discharging of consent conditions.

Partrac have recently been awarded two contracts for the provision of marine and coastal physical processes impact assessment, one in support of the Scotwind development and one in the Irish sector. We continue to successfully support major engineering and environmental consultancies, as part of their teams, to deliver our specialists inputs to scoping studies, comprehensive baseline chapters, impact assessments and ES summaries.

For further information on capabilities in this area contact Technical Director Kevin Black [email protected] 0798 400 6258.