Action Plan: Built Environment
Buildings, structures and hard surfacing are often important for plants such as lichens and animals such as pipistrelle bats and their roosts. Birds such as the peregrine, kestrel and feral pigeon may use buildings for roosting and nesting. Some may spend all of their life-cycle living on/in a structure (e.g. lichens or ferns), or use the structure for part of their life-cycle, i.e. for nesting, and utilising local habitats for feeding.
Examples of built environment features include:
- Buildings
- Walls
- Bridges
- Tunnels
- Pylons
- Underground sites
- Unit paving
- Bound materials
- Hardcore
- Tarmac
- Concrete
- Railway ballast
Little is known about the built environment as a habitat type compared with the more natural habitat types. The ecological requirements of many 'urban' species are poorly understood and options for management are often unclear.
