A tool for measuring the economic and ecological value of a proposed development was launched last week by the RICS.
Comprehensive Project Appraisal is a set of principles intended to allows planners and project managers to assess everything from social and environmental impact to bottom-line economics.

According to the RICS, the appraisal will promote sustainable development by taking account of economic, environmental, planning and social issues in order of priority.

The factors that will be considered include: economic values; local, regional and global environmental impacts; public welfare; the effect on infrastructure provision and demand for transport; and the opinions of those affected by a development.

The appraisal can also be used for urban development plans. The appraisal allows councils to decide whether a development meets the principles of "Agenda 21", the process under which local authorities seek to meet the definition of sustainability agreed at the Rio Earth Summit.

  • Cambridge council has appointed consultant DEGW to study the feasibility of expanding the city to the east.

    DEGW will carry out the study this summer to decide whether this expansion, to accommodate the 2800 houses a year which need to built in Cambridge by 2016, is a sustainable solution.

    Buro Happold Urban Projects is transport planning adviser on the study and Cambridge Landscape Architects is landscape architect. Cambridge council will exhibit the results of the study in September.