ℹ️ This card is available in Stage 1: preparation and briefing
📤 Attain detailed information about the site, building or assets to enable the design team to carry out Stage 2: concept design
This differs from site appraisals in Stage 0: strategic definition, which deals appraising a range potential sites at high level to create shortlist for detailed investigation here

This activity focuses on gathering detailed information about each site or area under consideration.

• Site information refers to information about a proposed site for a development that might be relevant to the project team, contractor or operators of the completed development.
• The site survey needs to confirm the suitability of a site for installation and examine any potential technical or acceptability constraints.

Capturing information

Data and information captured or created at this stage should be stored in a way that is sharable with other teams and contractors. Standard open formats, where they exist, should be used for data. For example, GIS data should be available in geoJSON or Shapefiles, and tabular data should be held in well-named and structure spreadsheets.

Try to avoid only having information available in text documents such as Word or PDF as these can be difficult to extract from in later stages. This will increase resource and time required to use the information for design purposes in further stages and increase the possibility of errors.

Potential information

The exact information required will depend on the project type and proposed assets to be targeted. Below are some details to consider.

Site information

• Existing uses, boundaries, covenants, wayleaves, easements, rights of way and rights to light
• Site availability, history, land registry entries, planning history, legal searches
• Insurance details, flood risk, natural drainage, known hazards, contamination
• Biodiversity and protected species including trees and hedges (including tree preservation orders)
• Pedestrian and vehicular access, roads and rights of way, local transport facilities, traffic surveys, site access conditions

Asset information

• Information about existing buildings, assets and property condition (if applicable)
• Information about existing services and statutory utilities (such as available capacities of substations)
• Information about tunnels, wells or other underground obstructions.
• Proximity to pipelines, cables and telecoms

Legal information

• Existing planning consents, likely planning conditions and the likelihood of requiring an environmental impact assessment
• Leases and ownership issues including wayleaves
• Legislative constraints due to designation of land or assets; this could include conservation areas or areas of restricted development or other reasons

Local community information

Local amenities that may impact delivery:

• Schools
• Open space
• Transport network (especially railways and motorways)
• Access requirements for traffic and pedestrians
• Local public and community consultations including social and demographic information if relevant

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