ACE Group–EIC nature plan: policy takeaways for UK infrastructure engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
ACE Group’s Environmental Industries Commission has issued a policy roadmap urging UK governments to classify nature-based solutions – such as wetlands, urban forests and green roofs – as core infrastructure on a par with roads, rail and engineered flood defences. The plan seeks multi‑year funding, integration into National Policy Statements and Treasury Green Book appraisal, and explicit performance metrics for biodiversity, flood attenuation and urban cooling. For designers and geotechnical teams, this signals stronger policy backing for hybrid schemes combining hard defences with soil‑ and vegetation‑based systems.
Technical Brief
- Policy roadmap is issued by the Environmental Industries Commission, a specialist arm of ACE Group.
- Nature-based measures are positioned for inclusion in the same decision pathways as major rail and energy schemes.
Our Take
The Association for Consultancy and Engineering and ACE Group have featured repeatedly in our recent Policy coverage, signalling that their nature-focused infrastructure guidance is likely to be picked up quickly by UK consultants and client bodies rather than remaining a purely advocacy document.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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