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UrbanCat · Urban Nature Audit · UK councils

Compare nature-based options for your council site.

A screening service in development, run by UrbanCat staff for UK councils. We compare your site as it is today with three nature-based options and explain, in plain English, the likely value, the tradeoffs, how uncertain the figures are and what to check next.

The service is under commercial-readiness review and is not yet operating as a commissioned service.

Discuss a council appraisal Explore an illustrative example
Marylebone · London, UK · illustrative
Vitality Audit
+0.42 vegetation density
Five-year modelled uplift across the catchment
Stormwater retained
82%
PM2.5 reduction
−18%
Synthetic illustrative example
Vitality Audit — London Marylebone
£3.14M illustrative economic value · generated from fixed assumptions

Synthetic illustration generated from fixed assumptions — not an observed or measured site result, and no site data is retrieved.

Proposed output

One site, the existing baseline, and three options.

Each appraisal covers one council-controlled UK site, subject to nation-specific evidence with a confirmed boundary. The existing baseline is compared with a minimum-intervention, a balanced-improvement and a higher-ambition option. Once the service is ready, the intended deliverables are:

Reviewed report

A PDF report, reviewed by a named UrbanCat professional, setting out value, tradeoffs, uncertainty and next steps.

Calculation tables

The numbers behind the report as CSV tables, so your officers can check and reuse them.

Sources and assumptions record

A manifest of the evidence, sources and assumptions used, including what was not available.

Figures keep three things apart: possible cash savings to the council, wider public and environmental economic benefits, and actual revenue. Not every pound of economic value is income or a saving to the council.

How it works

Three steps, run by UrbanCat staff.

  1. 01

    Brief and site

    You tell us about the site, its confirmed boundary and the decision you face.

  2. 02

    Compare options

    We compare the baseline with three options for value, tradeoffs and uncertainty.

  3. 03

    Review and delivery

    Once the service is ready, a named reviewer checks the work before it is delivered to you.

Scope

What the appraisal is for — and what it is not.

It helps you

  • Choose an option to take into further feasibility and design work
  • See the likely value, the tradeoffs and how uncertain they are
  • Identify the surveys and approvals needed before committing capital

It does not provide

  • Statutory biodiversity net gain calculations
  • Verified nature or carbon credits
  • Engineering design
  • Independently assured investment cases or disclosures
  • Automatic investment recommendations
Intervention catalogue

Intervention catalogue

Intervention catalogue unavailable. Please try loading it again.

Illustrative examples

See the kind of comparison an appraisal makes.

These examples are synthetic. Every figure is generated from fixed assumptions — not an observed or measured site result. London is the main example; Dubai and Singapore are overseas illustrations outside this UK service and are not evidence of coverage.

London, UKIllustrative scenario

Marylebone

Three pocket mini-forests, a 1.1 km rain garden on Wigmore Street, and a green-roof retrofit across 18 commercial buildings.

Added
  • 3 Miyawaki-method mini-forests (1,800 m²)
  • 1.1 km bioswale on Wigmore Street
  • Green roofs on 18 commercial buildings (9,400 m²)
Modelled change
  • Vegetation density up 0.42 (NDVI, 5-year)
  • 82% of stormwater retained on site
  • PM2.5 down 18% across the catchment
Modelled avoided cost · illustrative
£3.14M
per year

Generated from fixed assumptions. Not an observed or measured site result.

Open this illustrative example
UAEIllustrative scenario

Dubai South

Synthetic overseas illustration · outside this UK service

A 1.4 km logistics corridor in Dubai South, shaded with native trees and cool-paved at street level.

Added
  • 380 desert-native street trees (Ghaf, Sidr)
  • 2,100 m² of high-albedo cool pavement
  • 4 misting shade pavilions
Modelled change
  • Peak felt-temperature down 4.6 °C between 11:00–15:00
  • Outdoor productive hours recovered by 27%
  • 184 heat-illness ER visits avoided each year
Modelled avoided cost · illustrative
AED 4.82M
per year

Generated from fixed assumptions. Not an observed or measured site result.

Open this illustrative example
SingaporeIllustrative scenario

Jurong

Synthetic overseas illustration · outside this UK service

An 8 km pollinator corridor stitching three reservoir parks across a fragmented industrial estate.

Added
  • 8 km pollinator corridor between three reservoir parks
  • 6 ha of rewilded buffer with 42 native species
  • 1.8 ha managed wetland filtering 3 stormwater outfalls
Modelled change
  • +38 illustrative habitat-score points (30-year, non-statutory)
  • Species richness up from 47 to 138
  • 640 megalitres of stormwater filtered each year
Modelled avoided cost · illustrative
S$ 6.71M
per year

Generated from fixed assumptions. Not an observed or measured site result.

Open this illustrative example
Public guidance we reference

Referencing guidance does not mean an output complies with it or has been assured against it. Read the methodology

gov.uk
Statutory biodiversity metric (reference only)

The official metric for English planning. This service does not calculate statutory biodiversity units; that needs the official metric and a competent ecologist.

Green Book
HM Treasury Green Book

WELLBY framework and discount rates from official UK appraisal guidance.

tnfd.global
TNFD LEAP v1.0

Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework, used as a reference only — outputs are not independently assured disclosures.

Thinking about nature-based options for a council site?

Councils commission work from UrbanCat and receive reviewed deliverables — there is no self-service workspace. Scope and fee are agreed in writing.

Discuss a council appraisalScope and pricing

Staff sign in is for UrbanCat operators only.

Expert-assisted screening tool — under commercial-readiness review

Urban Nature Audit is an expert-assisted screening tool. Its outputs are screening-level and non-statutory, they are intended to be operated and interpreted by a competent professional, and the product is currently under commercial-readiness review. It does not replace:

  • an ecological survey
  • the official statutory biodiversity metric
  • planning advice
  • flood or drainage engineering
  • legal advice
  • a professional valuation