Home: Our Expertise › Development & Planning › Environmental Planning › Archaeology & Built Heritage

Archaeology & Built Heritage

WSP has extensive experience in providing specialist archaeological and cultural heritage advice throughout the planning process from pre-land purchase up to the discharge of archaeological planning conditions.

We take a risk based approach by considering archaeological and heritage issues from the outset to ensure the scope, cost, and duration of works are minimised without compromising best practice and quality.

Undertaking archaeological and heritage works prior to development identifies and confirms whether a site has archaeological potential. This enables developments to either proceed as planned with assurance, or to be adjusted during the early stages to cost-effectively integrate archaeological investigations or the preservation of significant archaeological remains.

We provide independent archaeological advice to leading developers and planning consultancies. We can quickly confirm areas of limited archaeological potential. And where areas of archaeological potential are thought to exist, we design programmes of fieldwork to assess its survival and significance and design mitigating measures to minimise its impact on a development.

Our skilled experts have worked on a wide range of archaeological and cultural heritage issues on proposed new retail, residential, industrial, commercial and leisure developments, as well as utilities and transportation projects.

Our technical excellence and professionalism is recognised. The archaeological team have all attained corporate membership of the Institute for Archaeologists.

Our archaeology specialists often work as part of a comprehensive design team that includes architects, planners and engineers, which aids our ability to design innovative programmes of archaeological evaluation to minimise project risk.

Our core services include:

• Archaeological desk-based assessments
• Scheduled ancient monument assessments
• Historic building assessments
• Standing building recording
• Historic landscape assessments
• Conservation plans
• Environmental impact assessments
• Negotiation with local authorities and statutory bodies to scope fieldwork
• Management of archaeological fieldwork