Wardell Armstrong is equipped to undertake detailed metric topographic surveys to provide accurate plans of boundaries, site detail and topography. Land survey solutions are offered for all aspects of urban and rural environments, using GIS and CAD integration.
Topographic land surveys services include:
- Development and management, including plans for extensions and conversions, urban design and planning, property development and conservation appraisal
- Agriculture and forestry, including land parcel management, resource establishment and establishing boundaries
- General advice to landowners and agents including archaeology
- Environmental assessment packages
- Archaeological survey, including survey of earthworks, monuments and historic buildings
Historic landscape surveys are usually requested by local planning authorities or as part of various environmental and historic stewardship schemes when there is a possibility of the survival of earthworks or other physical remains within an area that may be significantly affected by development, or to quantify the historical landscape resource for a particular area.
The simplest form of survey is a walkover survey, which will involve a specialist team visiting the development area and assessing the site for the presence of earthworks and buildings etc. A photographic and written record will then be produced.
When a proposed development impacts on the fabric of a historic building or when a historic building may be removed by development, local planning authorities often require the developer to provide a detailed record of the building prior to its alteration or demolition.
Wardell Armstrong has extensive experience in the field of historic building recording and has provided this service to commercial developers and organisations such as heritage trusts and English Heritage.
The team is able to undertake a number of rapid approaches to building recording, as required by project briefs designed by local or national planning authorities, archaeological curators, consultants or developers. At the simplest level, they can undertake a swift visual inspection to record a building’s historic plan, form, function, age, development and construction. A description of the building’s landscape and historic context can also be initiated.
Geophysical survey is regularly required by Local Authority Planning Archaeologists at an early stage in the planning process, usually prior to determination of a planning application to determine the presence and extent of buried archaeological remains at a proposed development site.
Our geophysics team provide a fast response, competitive service. Customers include organisations involved in commercial development, as well as archaeological contractors who do not possess the relevant in-house capabilities.
For a developer, geophysical survey is a relatively inexpensive and speedy method of establishing the presence of potential archaeological remains within a development site and serves to highlight potential risks to development at an early stage. This helps to inform a developer about possible time and cost implications.
Peat surveying can be an integral element in the planning process for developers – particularly with regard to housebuilding, wind-farm construction, road building and peat landscape restoration projects.
Wardell Armstrong’s bespoke approach to peat surveying allows clients to access information relevant to a specific project and is used to supplement the more general information provided by commercially available standard mapping. Landscape surveys are an important part of the planning process with construction projects: potential complications can be exacerbated by a number of factors. Many parts of the country are still poorly surveyed and are overlain by complex deposits.
The presence of peat deposits may bring a range of issues to the fore, three of which are inconsistent depth, preservation and the extent of the accumulations.