Specialism

Third-Party Approvals

Mitigating Risk by Handling Third-Party Approvals

Our infrastructure team are particularly adept and gaining those third-party approvals which so often become project risks. Our approach is underpinned by working relationships and over many years we have developed relationships with Water Companies (such as Thames Water and Severn Trent), Network Rail, Transport for London, Environment Agency and Canals and Rivers Trust, amongst others. We understand their requirements and therefore donā€™t always need to engage with them to provide early advise but when we do engage with the relevant party it is a two way process and we are simply incorporating their, often over cautious or onerous, requests. Typically we would never approach them with a blank canvas, we always endeavour to table a solution which our client is comfortable with, thereby ensuring that onerous requirements are avoided. Ā 

If onerous requirements are requested we always challenge these but not in a confrontational way. We try and understand the overarching driver for the request and endeavour to find a compromise position. In our experience this approach results in the most beneficial solution for our client.Ā 

When dealing with existing third-party assets such as highways, railways, services, tunnels, canals and rivers one of the key challenges is to find solutions which minimise impact to the asset but without sterilising the land around them with onerous easements and ā€œno build zonesā€. We adopt a range of techniques which start by understanding the asset itself and the constraints it poses. Using engineering knowledge and experience this tells us how close to the asset we can reasonably build. We then use a range of techniques including sophisticated finite element ground movement analyses to demonstrate to the asset owner our proposals will not adversely affect the asset and agree any mitigation we may employ during the construction and operational phases.Ā 

Our range of third-party approval services include:

  • Sewer adoption and diversion agreements with water companies including and sectional approvals (eg. Section 102, 104, 106, 116 and 185)Ā 
  • Highway agreements (including Section 38 and 278 works and licences)Ā 
  • Highway Structure Approval in Principle agreementsĀ 
  • Sewer Buildover AgreementsĀ 
  • Power Line under ground (PLUG) tunnel assessments and ground movement analysisĀ 

 

  • Network Rail agreements including BAPA works, ā€œFormsā€ approvals and CEM/CRE activitiesĀ 
  • Transport for London and London Underground Concept Design Statements and Impact AssessmentsĀ 
  • Environment Agency (EA) consultations and Flood Risk Activity: Environmental PermitsĀ 
  • EA river wall assessmentsĀ 
  • MMO LicencingĀ 

Third-Party Approvals

Some Example Projects

Residential

Paddington Green Police Station

Wind-tunnel testing and temporary works design reduces high-rise concrete volumes & embodied carbon [...]

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Hotels

Quay House

Integrated engineering approach delivers elegant & sustainable hotel design [...]

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Mixed Use

Harold Hill Family Welcome Centre

Structural scheme designed for future-proof adaptation [...]

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Student Accommodation

Palmerston Court

MMC innovations & Passivhaus standards [...]

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Infrastructure

Paper Yard

Innovative foundations & MMC deliver ā€˜meanwhileā€™ lab space on masterplan site [...]

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Healthcare

Tolworth Hospital

Optimising the design approach for a public healthcare facility [...]

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Commercial

101 Newington Causeway

Identifying optimal approach for new sustainable commercial development [...]

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Mixed Use

Cantium Retail Park

Planning support to prove feasibility of inner-city retail park regeneration [...]

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Commercial

127 Charing Cross Road

Extra storeys and a remodel whilst nightclub remained operational on ground floor [...]

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Mixed Use

Southernwood Retail Park

Supporting a successful first-time planning application [...]

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Third-Party Approvals

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24 June 2022

Camden Hawley Wharf Wins RIBA National Award

Taking Sustainability Seriously

Sustainability is in our DNA and we have our own ambitious goals to achieve Net Zero as a business and with our designs. With innovative in-house monitoring tools, Walsh clients have seen on average reductions of 10-20% total embodied carbon, with some of our flagship work achieving 60-70% reductions compared with baseline figures.