AECoW has provided a written response to the biodiversity event it attended on 24^th June, which was in preparation of CoP15 (October, China). This response was copied to all AECoW stakeholders, including all environmental regulators across the UK.

At the consultants sub-working group, AECoW highlighted the need for consistent, clear, and effective monitoring roles, and responsibilities, which must be supported by the contracts.

AECoW strives for robust, independent EnCoW monitoring (ie. that is paid for by the Client, or Contractor, but commissioned independently, to avoid creating any compromise, or conflict of priorities); effective feedback mechanisms based on EnCoW monitoring outcomes, stronger developer enforcement of its contractors, and tighter controls in relation to delivery of construction phase environmental mitigation and commitments.

This group plans to engage with other stakeholders to share knowledge, and inform new EnCoW planning guidance, entitled ‘Good Practice Guide for Compliance Monitoring – For Consenting Authorities.

AECoW’s existing guidance for Local Planning Authorites wil be used to inform the new guidance. Stakeholders will likely be contacted for contributions in due course and it is likely that public consultation will be carried out on a final document. HoPS is seeking funding, and additional resources, to progress this work further.

The next meeting is in autumn 2021 and further updates will be provided then.

AECoW attended a Biodiversity Crisis meeting recently in the run up to COP15 in China in October, hosted by the Scottish Government & NatureScot.

We raised the issue regarding the lack of robust, open and transparent compliance monitoring, coupled with limited / ineffective feedback mechanisms (which should respond to monitoring findings). We believe that this combination encourages poor environmental compliance and significantly contributes to the Biodiversity Crisis. We are highlighting the effectiveness of h&S compliance monitoring requirements under CDM Regs, as a comparison to aim for.

We are taking this issue to Westminster through the Environment Bill consultation, to highlight the issue of unnecessary, and non-compliant construction impacts.

We will be meeting with the ICWCI in July to discuss contracting arrangement of Clerks of Works, as we are aware that EnCoW appointments often differ from standard CoW appointments and contracts.

This will help us help our members to strengthen their contractual arrangements and support their delivery of them.

We instructed Freeths LLP to provide legal advice on appointment terms and conditions of EnCoW contracts; and our proposed planning condition. We will share outputs with our Working Groups (to feed into the consultation) and also with our members.

This includes two outputs: a validity test of our proposed planning condition which we are seeking to be used across the UK to improve consistency of EnCoW appointments; and legal definitions / advice regarding key terms, such as ‘ensure’, ‘supervise’, ‘oversee’ and ‘manage’, which are frequently, and erroneously, used in EnCoW briefs and contracts. This will help our members minimise their risk and protect their liability and indemnities.

Therefore, this exercise will clarify where risk, and liability, is located in relation to the parties under the CDM Regulations.

We are delighted to have carried out initial consultation with FLS on 22^nd April. We are exploring opportunities with it, whereby we can share good practice, develop training material for affiliate grades, and bring together other key agencies.

We are planning a second meeting with FLS in the summer to tie in with the broader consultation strategy and we intend to invite other key agencies into discussions throughout this year, as outlined in our draft consultation strategy

We’re delighted to announce a new initiative to collaborate more with other organisations. If your organisation supports the aims and objectives of AECoW, which are located here, would you like to become a Supporting Organisation?

There’s no need for financial support and we will post your logo with a link to your website. Please get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Simon Shillington, Technical Director at Fairhurst, has become Honorary Member of the Association, for his technical support regarding construction contracts.

Simon is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 25 years of experience in construction and design consultancy across the water, property, infrastructure and power sectors. Simon has supported ECoWs delivering their obligations and he has hosted contract webinars on behalf of the Association, as well as presented at our annual conferences.

The Management Committee is very grateful to him for his ongoing support.

AECoW is delighted to have joined this group and we attended our first (virtual) meeting in the summer, whereby we provided our opinion for developing more robust quality assessments during construction procurement. 

We’re really keen to be involved with similar groups across the UK, so please get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you know others stakeholders who are involved with similar groups, as we’d be grateful to speak to them.