MKA Ecology was commissioned to undertake a biodiversity audit of the Royal Opera House at its main theatre venue in Covent Garden London, and also a warehouse facility in Aberdare, South Wales. ROH wanted to understand how its venues could be enhanced to support biodiversity.
We undertook field visits to understand the existing biodiversity features at each location, including data on habitats and species, as well as information on how they are managed; and we identified a suite of positive biodiversity interventions for each location that are appropriate for the ecological setting and the functional use of the space by the Royal Opera House. This was done in conjunction with stakeholder representatives from ROH at each location, so we could take into account any constraints on existing infrastructure when making our recommendations.
The two sites provided a contrast of settings – Covent Garden being based in predominantly urban central London, and Aberdare in rural south Wales. Our recommendations were tailored to each location, and identified local priority habitats and species which ROH could target to contribute to local biodiversity policy in each location. E.g. In Covent Garden, the focus was on creating green roofs and rooftop gardens, alongside providing nesting opportunities for black redstart and peregrine falcon, two birds of high conservation concern synonymous with urban habitats, and identified as London Priority Species. In Aberdare, our recommendations focused on local priority habitats including woodland, alongside creating nesting habitat for willow tit, a nationally scarce bird which has a stronghold around Aberdare.
For each intervention an estimate of the scale of intervention required (whether it required adapting existing management, minor additional works, or major work requiring funding) was given alongside the expected biodiversity impact, to help ROH prioritise actions with available resources at each location.
In addition to the significant opportunities for biodiversity that were recorded, it was also noted that there was a strong commitment to enhance biodiversity from the staff at each location. This enthusiasm and engagement are critical to ensuring that any proposed interventions are well managed, successful and sustainable.