Glossary

  • CIRIA - the Construction Industry Research and Information Association.
  • Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) - The synthesis of all proposed mitigation and monitoring actions in relation to construction process, set to a timeline with specific responsibility assigned and follow-up actions defined.
  • DMRB or Design Manual for Roads and Bridges - provides a comprehensive manual system which accommodates all current standards, advice notes and other published documents relating to the design, assessment and operation of trunk roads (including motorways).
  • Ecology - The relationship of living things to one another and their environment, or the study of such relationships.
  • Historic Scotland (now Historic Environment Scotland) - an executive agency of the Scottish Government, charged with safeguarding the nation’s historic environment and promoting its understanding and enjoyment on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
  • Mitigation measures - measures that avoid, reduce, remediate, alleviate or compensate for an adverse environmental impact.
  • National Biodiversity Network (NBN)- a collaborative project which involves many of the UK’s wildlife conservation organisations, the government, country agencies, environmental agencies, local records centres and many voluntary groups and seeks to make biodiversity information widely available.
  • National Cycle Route – part of the National Cycle Network created by the charity Sustrans.
  • National Grid Reference or NGR – a unique reference system developed by Ordnance Survey for defining any point located in Great Britain.
  • Ordnance Survey – the national mapping agency for Great Britain
  • Pollution - A change in the physical, chemical, radiological or biological quality of a resource (air, water or land) caused by man or man’s activities that is injurious to existing, intended or potential uses of the resource.
  • PPGs or Pollution Prevention Guidelines - produced by the Environment Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and SEPA and outline businesses’ statutory responsibilities and guidance on good practice to reduce pollution risk. Each PPG is targeted at a particular industrial sector or activity and applies across the UK.
  • SEPA - Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scotland’s environmental regulator.
  • SNH – Scottish Natural Heritage, a government body with the role of looking after the natural heritage, helping people to enjoy and value it, and encouraging people to use it sustainably.
  • Special Area of Conservation or SAC – European designated area as defined by EC Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), to protect the 220 habitats and approximately 1000 species listed in annex I and II of the directive.
  • Special Protection Area or SPA – is a designation under the European Union directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, to protect the habitat of migratory birds and certain species of particularly threatened birds.
  • Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI - conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom; they may be of biological, geological or physiographic interest.
  • SUSTRANS – sustainable transport charity.
  • Topsoil - the upper layer of soil containing the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms.