BNG units or Habitat Units represent measurable improvements or avoided losses to biodiversity that developers can purchase to compensate for the impact of their projects on the habitats to your site, enabling you to meet Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements and secure planning consent or meet conditions. BNG units are registered on a government register and any sold units are retired from the register.

Every development now requires an ecological assessment on the impact your project will have on habitats and biodiversity. This report will show the lost habitat units of various types and distinctiveness of habitat for your site. If you can't replace these units on-site with a net gain of 10% then you will require off-site BNG units to cover the shortfall and ensure you get sign off from your local planning authority for your development project.

Our team of ecology, planning and compliance experts are ready to provide certified high quality BNG units, ensuring your investment in the local ecosystem makes a real difference to the biodiversity of plants and animals.

See our FAQ's for more information or get in touch with a member of our tea

Yes, if your ecology reports say your development will impact on any type of habitat and you are not able to prevent or replace any impact onsite, then you must obtain offsite like for like BNG units with a 10% gain on any impact.

The Environment Act 2021 requires a statutory minimum of 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG) for all new developments in England & Wales from February 2024.

There are several different types of habitats which are grouped in tiers to reflect the cost and value of different habitats.  

Tiers ‘A1’ to ‘A5’ refer to area habitats, tier ‘H’ refers to hedgerow, and ‘W’ to watercourse habitats.

You will need to match like for like unless you are using the trading rules to buy a higher quality BNG unit.

Yes you can purchase your BNG units without obtaining a quotation however we recommend you contact us to talk through your specific requirements and ensure they meet your needs to satisfy planning requirements and your DEFRA metric is not impacted by the spatial risk multiplier.

DEFRA and Natural England have released a standardised Biodiversity Metric which ecologists feed information about any site into to produce a biodiversity value. The metric can show the losses and gains caused by development and habitat improvements. It can also calculate the impact from any spatial risk multiplier.

In short, you need to ensure that any habitat units you buy are created in either the Local Planning Authority or National Character Profile of your development site.

The statutory minimum period to manage and care for any site producing BNG units is 30 years. Each of our site has a program of regular monitoring a number of key metrics to show the improvements to biodiversity, to ensure we are on target and can undertake further work where necessary.

Natural England have produced a map of England setting out areas of the country with connected ecosystems or geographic features. It's important you try to find BNG units within your are profile number, although you could buy from an adjacent number profile, it will mean you need to buy more units and the costs can mount quickly. Through our own projects and sourcing process we can provide most habitat types in different profile areas around the country to meet your planning requirements at the lowest possible cost.

BNG credits are the government solution of last resort for developers not able to source more affordable units in the private sector market. In the event you are not able to source. Natural England sell these credits on behalf of the state but they are considerably more expensive, especially if you factor in the spatial risk multiplier (meaning double the cost!) and fulfil exactly the same function and purpose as the BNG Units we sell.

Yes, we are able to offer advice on the type and location of the credits you require as an additional service. Our BNG unit sales are sold on an unadvised basis unless you also instruct us to advise on your BNG requirements. If you need advice from our team of specialist ecologists please ask a member of our team to include this in your quotation.