Biodiversity
Integrate biodiversity in design, then have it certified
Two distinct stages: design integrates biodiversity (ARKENOR / design team); certification (Effinature) is then issued by IRICE as a third party. The roles do not overlap.
Two distinct stages, two separate teams
Biodiversity is handled in two distinct stages. First in design: integrating ecological considerations into the project, with ARKENOR in support. Then, if the client wishes, having it certified, the role of Effinature, issued by IRICE, an accredited body.
These two stages are never carried out by the same team: the designer cannot certify their own project. The impartiality required by ISO/IEC 17065 means the certification decision belongs to IRICE alone. For the architect, the path stays clear: design on one side, attest on the other.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Sequence
Integrate first, certify after, never the reverse.
Ecological quality is produced by design decisions: what is retained, how the ground is treated, how planting is chosen and maintained, how lighting is designed. Certification assesses the result. Seeking certification on a completed design limits the outcome to whatever the design happened to achieve.
The sequence that produces a good result is an ecological assessment early enough to inform the layout, design decisions taken with it, and assessment against the delivered project. The first step is the one most often skipped.
Roles
The architect designs, an accredited body assesses.
The design team can be supported on the ecological dimension by environmental engineers. It cannot be certified by them if they belong to the same organisation that provided that support in a way that compromises impartiality, which is why the group's certification activity is a separate accredited entity.
For the architect, the practical consequence is worth knowing early: the partner who helps integrate biodiversity is not the party who will certify it, and building the project team on that assumption avoids discovering the conflict at the point of application.
Going further
Related pages.
This question connects to these pages.
- Effinature biodiversity certification — the scheme
- IRICE, Cofrac-accredited certification body — who assesses
- Four-season surveys — the assessment that informs the layout
- Green and blue network — connectivity as a design subject
- TerraLink: mapping ecological continuities — our method
- Engineering partner for competitions — the right stage to start
- Working with architects — the wider engagement
- Certification — why the roles are separated
- Avoid-reduce-offset sequence — the regulatory floor
- Environmental expertise — the assessment work
- Certifying biodiversity on a development — the developer-side view
- Offsetting measures — where design does not suffice
- Working with land developers — the masterplan scale
Scope a biodiversity pathway
Design (ARKENOR) then certification (IRICE), kept separate.
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