Environmental Management and Approvals

Queensland Ecologists manages the environmental side of a project after approval as well as before it. We work out which approvals and permits a project needs, prepare and lodge them, write the construction environmental management plan (CEMP) the conditions ask for, and then act as the project’s environmental manager while the work is done: inspecting the site, directing contractors on environmental controls, keeping the condition register current and reporting to council until the last condition is signed off. One consultancy covers the ecology, the plans and the management, so the person who wrote the condition response is the person checking it on site.

What the service covers

The work falls into three streams, most clients use one or two of them, and a project that starts with an approvals question often ends with us managing the conditions.

• Environmental planning and approvals. Advice on which approvals, permits and referrals a project needs under the Planning Act 2016, the Vegetation Management Act 1999, the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999; the environmental reports and plans that go with the application; responses to council and State information requests; and a plain reading of the conditions once the decision notice arrives, with what each one requires, when, and from whom.
• CEMP preparation and management. A site-specific CEMP written to the approval conditions, then run through construction: inductions, pre-start checks, inspections, incident response, updates when the construction method changes, and the records the assessing authority expects to see at close-out. Details of the plan itself are on the CEMP page.
• Management of ecological and environmental works. An environmental manager for the project, usually on a retainer of half a day to one and a half days a week. The role covers the obligations register, inspections, direction of civil and revegetation contractors on environmental controls, coordination of the fauna spotter-catcher, project arborist, surveyor and rehabilitation contractor, the certifications and reports each condition asks for, and the close-out that lets the survey plan be sealed or the approval be discharged.

When a project needs an environmental manager

A development approval in Queensland often lists ten or more environmental conditions, each with its own timing: some before clearing, some before the pre-start meeting, some before the survey plan is sealed, and some running for years after. The civil contractor is paid to build, the planner’s job ended at the decision notice, and nobody owns the list. Common signs that a project needs someone to:

• The decision notice conditions a CEMP, a vegetation management plan, a rehabilitation plan or a koala management plan, and clearing is about to start.
• Council requires certification from a suitably qualified person that a condition has been met before the next stage can proceed, for example that tree protection fencing is in place, that an offset has been secured, or that revegetation has been established.
• Earthworks are under way and the erosion and sediment controls, weed hygiene and fauna measures in the approved plans are not being checked by anyone.
• Plan sealing is months away and the compliance material (spotter-catcher reports, arborist certificates, inspection records, photographs) is spread across several contractors and nobody has pulled it together.
• A rehabilitation, revegetation or offset area has to be established and maintained for a set period, with monitoring reports to council on a schedule.
• The project is a Queensland Transport and Main Roads or other State job that requires an environmental management plan to MRTS51 and someone to administer it.

If you are not sure, send us the decision notice. We will tell you what the conditions require and whether the project needs a managed service or a single report.

How the work is set up

The first step on a project that already has an approval is a compliance audit: we read every approval, plan and permit, list every environmental condition with its trigger, timing, evidence and responsible party, and set out the programme to the next milestone, usually plan sealing. The audit and obligations register is a fixed fee and takes about a week.

After that, the environmental manager works on a retainer agreed in days per week or per month, from half a day a week on a quiet site to a day and a half a week through clearing, earthworks and establishment. The retainer is worked at the client’s direction and reviewed at each stage. Fixed-scope items, such as a pre-clearing survey, a condition certification or a monitoring report, are priced separately so the retainer stays predictable.

For a project that does not yet have its approval, the planning and approvals work is quoted as a staged fee proposal, the same way as our DA ecology coordination service, with the CEMP and management stages priced once the conditions are known.

What you receive

• An obligations register listing every environmental condition, its trigger, due date, evidence required and status, kept current for the life of the approval.
• A programme to the next milestone, with the long-lead items (seasonal surveys, establishment periods, offset settlement) flagged early.
• Inspection records with photographs and any corrective actions, in the form the assessing authority accepts.
• Condition certifications and reports prepared by a suitably qualified person where the condition requires one.
• Contractor direction on environmental controls, in writing, so the responsibility for each action is clear.
• A close-out pack with the compliance material for every condition, ready for the sealing or discharge request.

Who delivers it

The work is led by our Principal Ecologist, a Certified Environmental Practitioner (CEnvP), with an environmental planning and approvals team that has run management plans and approval conditions on residential subdivisions, commercial sites, rural properties and State infrastructure across South East Queensland. Specialist inputs that a condition asks for, such as a certified erosion and sediment control design or a fauna spotter-catcher, are arranged within the same engagement.

Where we work

We manage projects across South East Queensland, with regular work in Brisbane, Moreton Bay, the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, the Gold Coast and the Scenic Rim. Site attendance is priced per visit and built into the retainer, and the audit and register work is done from the documents wherever the site is.

Frequently asked questions

Can you take over a project where the works have already started?

Yes, and the compliance audit is designed for that situation. We read what was approved, inspect what has been built, record where the two differ and set out what has to happen before the next milestone. Where a condition has been missed we say so and set out the options, which may include an application to change the approval.

Do you write the CEMP and then manage it, or only one of those?

Either, and many clients ask us to write the CEMP for a plan-of-development or operational works condition and then keep us on to run it. We will also manage a CEMP written by someone else, after a review to confirm it matches the approval.

What does the retainer cost?

The retainer is priced in days, with a day covering up to 7.5 hours including travel within the Brisbane region. A compliance audit and obligations register on a typical subdivision is a fixed fee quoted from the documents. Ask for a quote with your decision notice attached and we will price the audit and an allowance for the stage you are in.

Is this the same as DA ecology coordination?

The two services overlap, and the dividing line is the decision notice. DA ecology coordination manages the ecology workstream of an application up to the decision. Environmental management and approvals covers the wider approvals picture before the decision and everything after it: the plans, the works and the conditions through to discharge.

Request a quote for environmental management and approvals and send us the decision notice or the project description. We will tell you which stream applies and price the first stage.