Environmental consultancies appear to be raising their game in terms of quality of service, which is largely driven by the growing awareness among clients of what constitutes good standards and bad, as well as the emergence of new professional accreditation schemes. We present a round-up of the various schemes and memberships to which consultants may choose to adhere, and these may be used as a guide to the corporate details displayed in the profiles section of the Directory.

During the boom in environmental consultancy in the late 1980s and early 1990s many firms dived into the market, including some less scrupulous operators whose cowboy services tarnished the sectors image. The industrys reputation has also been marred by a handful of successful high-profile negligence claims against some of the more established consultancies.

As a result, environmental consultancies today generally note the need for greater attention to documentation and protocols, as well as a more professional level of quality management. Moreover, evidence of a quality service and professional indemnity insurance are often prerequisites for many clients in choosing an environmental consultancy, along with other key selection criteria such as sector-specific experience, technical skills, locality and organisation type. Membership of a particular trade association may also give some indication of the consultancys commitment to quality.

ENDS asked all the consultancies which have taken profile entries in the Directory whether they have professional indemnity cover (PIC) for all contracts. The the vast majority, 89%, said they have. However, cover is more variable among smaller operators, and there are also considerable variations in the various PIC policies on offer. It is recommended that clients ask their consultants directly for specific details and seek contractual advice from a legal representative.

Quality management systems

Most medium and large environmental consultancies have adopted the international quality management standard, ISO9001, which requires a process-based approach to business and places emphasis on customer satisfaction. Around 60 consultancies listed in the Directory have ISO9001 certification. Non-certified consultancies may work to their own in-house quality management systems (QMS).

According to Peter Waite, technical director of environment, health and safety at Entec, his consultancys quality system dates back to 1995, "when some major clients began to insist that all our work for them should be covered by a certified QMS." It is generally believed that ISO9001-certified systems have an obvious advantage over informal systems because they give clients the additional comfort of knowing that an external body has audited the system and will continue to do so at regular intervals.

However, the value of ISO9001 is not universally recognised. John Waters, principal partner at Environmental Resources Management (ERM), says: "There is undoubtedly an expectation amongst the public sector and engineering clients that consultants should have this quality management system in place, but many of our blue chip clients do not have such expectations. It is certainly no longer perceived as a differentiator."

For laboratory work, there is the NAMAS (National Accreditation for Measurement and Sampling) certification scheme. Direct access to the correct laboratory equipment and other in-house facilities may also be an important selection criterion for some consultancy clients, depending on the scope of the project. ENDS Directory profiles include details of facilities which consultants have at their disposal.

ISO14001 - putting their house in order

While IS09001 and PIC are now fairly common in the sector, particularly among the larger operators, some consultancies are pushing forward new standards as indicators of a "quality service". Although largely disregarded by the consultancy sector in the past, certification to the environmental management systems (EMS) standard ISO14001 has now been achieved by nine firms (see Table 1).

These firms still account for less than 2% of all the consultancies listed in the Directory, which seems surprisingly low given that half of all the consultancies listed offer services to assist clients in developing their EMSs.

For Casella Stanger, the decision to become certified was taken on the basis that "as environmental consultants we should practise what we preach and be able to advise clients as practitioners as well as advisors." In October 1999, Casella became only the second environmental consultancy to achieve ISO14001 certification. Ken Smith, director of Casella Stangers environment, sustainability and risk division, believes that "it adds credibility to the service we provide and enables us to understand the pressures and uncertainties that our clients are going through."

Again, however, this is not an opinion shared by all. ERMs core business supports companies in improving environmental performance across a diverse range of indicators, but is not ISO14001-certified itself. John Waters comments: "For industrial clients there are clear benefits to the standard as it can be used to drive significant environmental management improvement and achieve cost savings." But he does not believe there is any pressure from clients for ERM to have the standard in order to verify its own environment policy. "It is not an important selection criterion when tendering for new contracts," he says, and "there is no evidence this will change."

As a support service industry, environmental consultancy cannot be said to have anywhere near the scale of environmental impacts as its industrial client base. But there are still significant impacts associated with certain consultancy services, particularly involving the management of hazardous materials, contaminated land remediation and asbestos management. According to White Young Green Environmentals EMS co-ordinator Susan Parr, this certainly a factor behind her consultancys move to become certified to ISO14001 in 2000.

"As an accredited consultancy we are better placed to sell EMS services to clients," she says, "and it gives clients greater confidence to know that we have jumped through the hoops ourselves." Supply chain pressure was another prime motivation. "We realised that an increasing number of key clients would be gaining ISO14001 and looking for their suppliers to be accredited, and this is now certainly happening."

Lattice Property, a major user of environmental consultancies, is a prime example. Having gained ISO14001 certification itself last summer, Lattice now stipulates that all its term consultants should do the same by March 2003. Ms Parr says: "We are seeing that virtually all tender submissions now request details on environmental management systems, and we are scoring points in tenders because of it. But we are also finding that even those that dont specify a formal EMS do still value it. This trend is also evident in the public sector."

The number of consultancies certified to ISO14001 is expected to increase over the coming months, mainly as a result of client requirements. Several firms are known to be in the process of gaining certification, including Entec and Carl Bro. Susan Williams, senior environmental auditor and EMS specialist at Carl Bro, says: "The bottom line is that there has been an informal EMS in place at Carl Bro for the last few years, but what has crystallised the need for a formal system is customer pressure. However, we also recognise the need to get our own house in order when we are telling clients that this is what they should have." Carl Bros Denmark office is already certified.

IEMA registers

In recent years, a number of legal test cases have demonstrated the importance of high quality environmental assessments in obtaining planning consents for new developments. The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) runs a quality accreditation scheme where examples of recent environmental impact assessment (EIA) work are scored against good practice criteria, and successful applicants achieve that status of IEMA Registered Environmental Impact Assessor.

Clients may be assured to know that the quality of EIA work undertaken by these firms is continually monitored and verified by an independent body. At present, 32 companies are accredited to the scheme (see Table 2). The registered assessor scheme has extremely good visibility within the industry and it is very noticeable if a major consultancy active in the field is not listed.

In addition to the corporate membership, IEMA launched a new register for individual EIA practitioners in 2002. Candidates are assessed against a combination of practical work experience, personal attributes and skills criteria to measure competence in EIA. Those who qualify are expected to adhere to a code of practice and satisfy continuing personal development requirements.

There are three tiers to the register: associate, registered and principal EIA practitioner. Currently over 30 individuals are accredited across the three levels, and IEMA plans to post their details on its on-line referral database. According to IEMAs Claire Draper, interest in the new register has been good, although applications received during the first few months of the scheme have been slower than anticipated initially.

However, further profile-raising activities should help ensure more widespread take-up and IEMA remains confident that the qualification will soon become a prerequisite for EIA contract work. Simon Hewitt, director of environmental planning at ERM, expects the scheme to gain rapid credibility and predicts that clients will soon expect to see the qualification on the CVs of EIA project teams. "It will also become a major consideration to consultancies when hiring specialist staff," he says.

IEMA also hosts the long-running accreditation scheme for environmental auditors, which was formerly managed by the Environmental Auditors Registration Association (EARA). More than 2,000 individuals are listed on this register, and half of the consultants profiled in this Directory employ IEMA auditors, while a third employ principal level auditors.

In addition to satisfying initial membership criteria, accredited individuals are encouraged to attend training workshops to maintain up-to-date knowledge of good practice. Clients may utilise IEMAs consultancy referral service to help narrow the search for appropriately qualified and competent environmental auditors (see www.iema.net for further details).

SiLC setting the standard for contaminated land

The contaminated land sector brings together experts from a variety of backgrounds ranging from chemists, biologists, environmental scientists and geologists to engineers and surveyors each with a different approach to the problem. The sector has also seen its share of less scrupulous operators. The need to standardise data relevant to site contamination and inspire increased confidence in brownfield development among investors led to the introduction in 2001 of the land condition record (LCR) initiative by the Governments Urban Task Force.

The LCR is a standard form which provides a record of the known physical and chemical nature of the land contamination and the steps taken to remediate it. As such, it may be used as a tool for purely internal risk management of assets and liability, or to inform outside parties (potential purchasers or environmental regulators) of the condition of the land. This is of particular benefit to sellers of land where there is a desire to provide accurate information to the purchaser and to exclude future liability.

To maximise the effectiveness of this initiative, it was necessary to develop a system for the registration of individuals competent to complete LCRs, and the Specialist in Land Condition (SiLC) was the result. IEMA was appointed official host and secretariat for the scheme the first of its kind for contaminated land practitioners.

Every SiLC must prove at least eight years project experience and pass a rigorous examination on the LCR and interview by his or her peers. The first batch of SiLCs gained accreditation in the latter half of 2001, although there are still only 35 accredited individuals across the country. Details may be accessed via the organisations website (www.silc.org.uk).

David Nancarrow of Atkins Environment was one of the first dozen to gain SiLC status and now sits on the schemes examining board. He is of no doubt as to its value to his firm and its clients. "While use of an SiLC will be important in ensuring the quality and reliability of land condition records, the accreditation will also be of wider value to clients who want to ensure that the contaminated land staff they employ work to the highest professional standards and comply with a recognised code of practice."

Jamie Robinson, regional associate with consultancy Parsons Brinkerhoff, also qualified recently as an SiLC and believes that it will be extremely beneficial: "The value of the SiLC/LCR scheme is that it sets a benchmark for the production of brownfield site condition reports predominantly with regard to land transactions by providing a standard means by which to collate all relevant information in a single factual document. It saves reviewing several documents and reports which may express different opinions, and also provides a more straightforward digest for those such as the lawyers and planners who may not be up to speed on the technical aspects of contaminated land."

Despite the strong level of support, there are concerns that the slow processing of SiLC applications, lengthy qualification process and inadequate promotion are inhibiting its impact. However, awareness is undoubtedly growing, and several consultants report that they are now beginning to receive requests for LCRs, mainly from major industrial landowners such as Lattice Property. The Welsh Development Agency has also taken a lead in championing SiLC and it is fast becoming a prerequisite for brownfield projects where the Agency is involved. Whether the regulatory authorities also begin to request SiLCS and LCRs as a matter of course will be crucial to their future success.

Consultants at Parkman Environment are currently working on some nine LCRs. As the scheme becomes more widely recognised, an increasing number of clients are expected to specify involvement of SiLC personnel in contaminated land projects. But at this early stage, Parkmans Doug Laidler feels that "the extent and timing of any bow wave in demand is still difficult to judge."

EICs environmental consultancies group

The Environmental Industries Commissions Environmental Consultancies Group (ECG) aims to provide assurance of the competence of its members in a range of technical disciplines in order to promote increased client confidence. It requires members to demonstrate, among other things, a track record in specific areas of environmental practice, appropriate PI insurance and the independence of the advice on offer. The ECG also seeks to provide a forum in which to discuss and respond to issues affecting the industry.

Established in 1997, the ECG has had a peak membership of around 40 consultancies, although numbers have since dwindled to just 11. Perceptions of the groups value do vary, and many of the big name firms are notably absent from the list. However, the EICs Richard Sullivan says that there will be a major drive in 2003 to attract more members. He explained the advantages of the scheme: "The benefit to customers is the knowledge that ECG-accredited consultancies are externally validated to show that they can do what they say they can do, and to a high standard. The benefits to consultants is that they should get more business though the provision of their details on our on-line database."

Other membership bodies

Other organisations recognised as providing useful membership in specialist environmental consultancy work areas include the following:

• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
• Chartered Institute of Wastes Management
• Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management
• Environmental Services Association
• Geological Society
• Institute of Acoustics
• Institute of Air Quality Management
• Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management
• Institute of Professional Soil Scientists
• Institution of Environmental Sciences
• Royal Meteorological Society
• Royal Town Planning Institute
• Royal Society of Chemistry

These bodies have strict rules and specific codes of conduct to which members are expected to adhere. To clients, memberships and chartered qualifications with these organisations may be considered further demonstration of a quality outfit.

A new umbrella body for environmental professionals, including consultants, was launched at the end of last year (see The ENDS Report, October 2002, p 5). The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) hopes to introduce a new "chartered environmentalist" (CEnv) qualification, a development to watch out for during the next 18 months.