If something needs to change, we don’t blame the tools.
We make them better.
Our results and reputation have been shaped by years of experience, industry knowledge and long-standing relationships. But with changing regulations, climate responsibilities and reputational concerns, our clients are looking for more.
We’ve taken on the challenge, developing innovative tools and award-winning solutions. Our technology innovations have solved specific problems, helped predict possibilities and allowed our clients to see the big picture. Find out more below:
Software
Macro Works have developed Ireland’s only proprietary Glint and Glare analysis software. Combined with two decades of visibility analysis experience, the software produces reliable Glint and Glare Assessment reports for the solar industry.
Macro Works have developed Ireland’s only proprietary Glint and Glare analysis software. Combined with two decades of visibility analysis experience, the software produces reliable Glint and Glare Assessment reports for the solar industry.
The glint and glare software allows our solar developer clients to design their panel array to avoid / minimise reflectance effects for surrounding residential, road and rail receptors. In turn, this gives planning authorities the comfort that significant reflectance effects have been avoided.
The glint and glare software has smoothed the planning consent process for hundreds of solar development projects.
Technology
WILDetect employs Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning techniques to segment, split and count birds and can be applied to other species and man-made maritime objects, to benefit the entire environmental modelling community
WILDetect uses Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning techniques to segment, split and count birds, and can be applied to other species and man-made maritime objects. Signalling a new direction for the detection of species, WILDetect enables the classification of multispecies even if there is a strong resemblance between them, and is expected to benefit the entire environmental modelling community.
Repetitive surveying of very large areas can have huge financial and time costs. WILDetect proposes a new supervised Machine Learning (ML) approach supported by Reinforcement Learning (RL) enabling user-model-data interaction that can detect, split and count birds, in an automated decision-making way with high accuracy rates.
The automatic classification of maritime ecosystems based on a variety of species will be in our future plans to support all types of environmental models with near-real-time information with multiple species.
WILDetect can be primarily deployed by environmentalists, researchers, authorities, and policymakers to monitor the marine ecosystem for fulfilling their goals effectively.
Technology
Best practice innovation to accurately measure bird flight heights for offshore wind. Ultra-high resolution surveys provide permanent data for quality assurance and risk and population modelling.
Natural England, the statutory advisory on nature conservation in England, recently highlighted APEM’s use of LiDAR for the accurate measurement of bird flight heights in their best practice advice. When LiDAR data is gathered alongside our ultra-high resolution surveys, we can use the data to accurately measure the flight heights of seabirds and gain a better understanding of avian interactions with wind turbines.
Aerial surveys are the preferred way to gather data for offshore wind, due to the lack of disturbance (or attraction) compared with boat-based surveys, lack of observer bias, and accessibility by being able to fly above wind farms and covering the whole area. There is an inherent cost advantage for our clients too: by covering large areas in a single flight, we gather permanent data that can be revisited in the future if the developer’s needs change.
Software
SRO Aquatic INNS Risk Assessment Tool: an award-nominated software innovation. Helping the water industry measure the future and current impact of invasive species
Water companies are working together and with third parties on nationally-important SRO projects, so they need robust, quantifiable and transferrable data. SAI-RAT sets the benchmark for best practice in INNS assessment, with quantitative risk scoring that facilitates auditability and transparency.
INNS cost the economy an estimated £2 billion per year. The tool facilitates risk-based prioritisation of actions and cost-effective resource allocation. SAI-RAT has filled a key requirement set out by Ofwat as part of RAPID to ensure the environmental impact of each SRO is adequately appraised to a consistent standard, ensuring they are the best value for the environment.
APEM Group’s SAI-RAT tool is being used by clients in the water industry for all SROs in addition to investigating risk of assets and RWTs for a number of water companies.
Data and Analytics
To comply with new impact assessment guidance for the Environment Agency, SCOUR helps water companies assess the risk of scour releases upon water courses downstream of reservoirs
To reduce flood risk, water companies and reservoir owners must prove that they can quickly reduce (or draw down) the water levels in the reservoir. Testing reservoir drawdown, or scour testing, can involve a short “dry” test or fully opening and closing an outlet valve, releasing large volumes of water into the watercourse.
Scour testing requires consent from the Environment Agency, as it can have a range of environmental impacts. These might include an increase in downstream flow rates, an impact on valuable river gravels which can be important spawning habitat for salmonids and lampreys, the discharge of fine or polluted sediment from the reservoir bottom which may suffocate the river bed downstream, discharge of water from the bottom of the reservoir that may have low dissolved oxygen or be substantially warmer or cooler than the river water downstream, and the release of fish from the reservoir which may be different from the fish living downstream.
Using the scour assessment tool to provide a high level risk assessment, reservoir owners can submit a request to the Environment Agency to continue to make scour releases every 6 months, which are required by law for reservoir safety. This innovative tool also helps reservoir owners prioritise mitigation action or further investigation, where needed.
Software
Used by water companies, consultants and regulators to use to assess and predict the ecological impacts of current and future water abstraction and drought
APEM were commissioned by the Environment Agency to package and improve the existing code for assembling, processing and analysing ecological monitoring and river flow data. Large financial investments will be required to protect ecosystems and services in freshwater and wetland habitats, and this toolkit helps quantify links between water resource pressures and ecology.
Developing and applying hydro-ecological models requires specialist programming skills and can be a laborious and time-consuming process. The Hydro-Ecology Toolkit makes this process more accessible and more efficient by streamlining and automating the process of assembling, processing and analysing ecological monitoring and river flow data.
Technology
A digital-first, super-sized, high resolution survey that allows a user to ‘virtually’ drive or fly through an area from their desktop
One H2OVER® survey can capture an area in excess of 200km2 in one flight, saving time and money compared to foot surveys and providing visibility into inaccessible or remote areas. H2OVER® has been used by our clients in the water, infrastructure and construction industries for catchment mapping, leakage detection, pollution source mapping, environmental assessments and route proving.
The resulting data are used to produce high-resolution imagery up to 1.5cm GSD and interactive models for stakeholder engagement. This digital resource can be modelled to show how habitats and areas will evolve over a season or longer, reducing the need for further site visits.
Data and Analytics
Biological databases of marine, freshwater and phyto invertebrates, for classification and reporting. Data are used for project management, reporting, reference and cataloguing
Our in-house biological databases of invertebrates and invertebrate images, Invertebase acts as a project management tool providing progress/performance and analytical quality control. Samples are logged in and tracked from receipt to client report, with each aspect of the analysis allocated a time budget, through sieving, sorting, identification and quality control. Using Invertebase, project managers can effectively manage budgets, staffing, training and timescales.
Data from the processing log are used in subsequent tenders for the same or similar work, to ensure appropriate capacity and that sample costs are based on the actual time taken rather than estimated times, meaning clients are not over- or under-charged for the work. Data can also be exported to be provided as a quality analysis logfor the client.
Invertebase holds all of our biological sample data, with separate versions for freshwater, marine and phytoplankton, and is used to catalogue our museum reference specimens and to interrogate the database to look for species and trends. It also holds images of invertebrates for re-selling.
Software
Cloud-based software specifically designed to reduce the burden of managing and maintaining a marine safety management system, promote a pro-active safety culture and make the process of Port Marine Safety Code compliance simple and efficient
Digi-MSMS (Digital Marine Safety Management System) is the only software specifically designed to support Port Marine Safety Code compliance. Based on NASH Maritime’s structured approach to MSMS organisation, developed originally for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to support compliance amongst the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
Digi-MSMS is a cloud-based, comprehensive Safety Management System designed to enable port authorities and terminal operators to stay on top of evolving maritime safety and compliance requirements.
Marine Safety Management made easy. Digi-MSMS reduces the admin effort involved in managing and maintaining an MSMS and frees up resource to focus on other critical tasks.
Digi-MSMS was developed with an Innovate UK Fast Start Innovation Grant and with input from leading UK port authorities and terminal operators.