There is no honest single price for Biodiversity Net Gain work. Cost depends on the site, season, habitats, species risk, development impacts, evidence requirements and how the gain will be delivered.
The main cost areas
- Ecological surveys and habitat condition evidence: scope varies by site and may be seasonally constrained.
- Metric and planning work: formal calculations require verified baseline and post-development inputs, trading rules and risk multipliers.
- Design and on-site delivery: land take, habitat type, establishment difficulty and long-term management all matter.
- Off-site biodiversity units: price and availability vary by location, habitat type and market conditions.
- Statutory biodiversity credits: these are a last-resort route and government prices vary substantially by habitat tier.
Do not price a project from baseline × 10%. That uplift benchmark does not reveal the actual residual off-site requirement. You need post-development units, retained and created habitat, trading rules, spatial and temporal risk, and the other statutory metric inputs.
How to get a useful budget
- Run an early constraints screen.
- Confirm which statutory metric route may apply.
- Commission the surveys and competent professional input needed for the site.
- Model development impacts and on-site delivery before considering off-site units.
- Request current, project-specific quotations rather than relying on generic online ranges.
About statutory credit prices
GOV.UK publishes the current statutory biodiversity credit price schedule. The amount depends on the habitat category and tier, so quoting one universal “per unit” figure is misleading. Check the current official price table when the statutory-credit route is relevant.
Start with a free initial screen
BioGain reviews available environmental data and produces an indicative baseline starting point. It does not replace surveys, formal metric work or planning advice.
Screen a site