A busy APEM year: here’s a look back at 2022

As much of our work is subject to client confidentiality, there’s a lot of work we aren’t allowed to talk about. But here are a few teasers: our field and aquatic survey teams have been sampling at several sites, resulting in some fascinating new and rare discoveries for our BioLabs team. Keep your eyes peeled for more about this cross-team scientific success in 2023.

We carried on growing in headcount and offering new services: our remote sensing and freshwater teams have collaborated to offer peatland services, a new terrestrial invasive and non-native species team has been established and we’ve started rope work for bat surveys above and below ground. We’re looking forward to evolving in 2023 to meet our clients’ demands for nutrient neutrality and marine mammal services, amongst others.

Our project management and operational teams have been busy too. The marine team processed an incredible 2 million images, tagged 1.4 million targets and issued over 500 reports to clients. Our H2OVER service (a super-sized, high resolution survey that allows a user to ‘virtually’ drive or fly through an area from their desktop) covered thousands of kilometres of land.

We’ve been commended throughout the year, with our litter boat scooping up an Environmental Best Practice Award for removing over 40,000 litres of rubbish from the Manchester Ship Canal and Salford Quays. A fish removal project the freshwater team worked on recently won a Civil Engineering award from ICE South West, and we were highly commended for Specialized M&A of the Year at the Global Environment Analyst Awards.

We were incredibly proud when Natural England endorsed our pioneering use of LiDAR to accurately measure bird flight heights in their best practice advice for offshore wind. LiDAR data gathered during our flights will contribute to a standardised set of flight height data that can be used in all phases of offshore wind development for many years to come.

And we wouldn’t be an environmental consultancy without taking responsibility for our own carbon footprint. We were certified carbon neutral, taking in all of our activities including remote sensing flights, and we started to offer ESG services to our clients who are looking to reduce their carbon footprint, engage with communities and take steps towards sustainability.

Our talented team presented research and project work at events worldwide. We also hosted webinars on subjects as diverse as eDNA, terrestrial invasive species, bats and hydro-ecological modelling. We already have a few exciting subjects in the pipeline for next year, so sign up for updates and watch previous recordings here.

True to our love of data, we established a framework to measure brand awareness, perception and value across all of our stakeholders. And 95% of clients said they would recommend us and that APEM are viewed as a leader in our industry. We were repeatedly told we are ‘professional’, ‘reliable’, ‘specialist’ and ‘knowledgeable’. Thank you to all who took part for spreading the love. Merry Christmas to all, and here’s to a prosperous 2023!