Environmental considerations for site selection processes include soil requirements, water requirements, topographical requirements, and environmental requirements. These specialised processes are amongst other Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements. It’s important to ensure that the correct team of specialists is involved throughout the life of the project.

Phases through the process

Legal experts may be involved from the planning phase, before the environmental screening phase, to ensure that the experts are alerted to the appropriate regulatory requirements. Most entities start by establishing site selection committees, who manage the process from start to finish, with each member contributing to key milestones along the way. The activities are often spearheaded by someone who can make sure there is an executive level buy-in before starting the site selection process.

Geographical analysis

Environmental considerations start with a geographic filtering process where the team of experts weigh options and filter down the regional geographies based on the proposed project and industry type. Mining-related projects have a lot more considerations than residential dwelling projects. Because of the diversity of projects, there’s no fixed site selection criteria that can be applied across the board.

Data accuracy

Accuracy of data collection may adversely affect the end results. There may be several open-source data origins that may be outdated and misleading. It’s important that open-source data considered for site selection processes be assessed and verified. In most instances, data available on the web is biased and may come from organisations whose sole objective is to promote their own intentions for other projects. Site specific studies are critical to manage the risk of making decisions based on unverified data.

Short- and long-term trends

For long term projects, site selection processes must include historic data including climatic trends and maximum flood data. Short term trends may create an immediate opportunity for some projects. However, they must be carefully evaluated in terms of causes of the events to understand if there are any long-term problems such as an unfavourable business climate. 

Site selection process summary

Some general mistakes conducted during the Site Selection Process can be summarised as follows:

  • Unskilled site selection team;
  • Poor executive participation;
  • Incorrect data from an open source;
  • Eliminating potential sites too rapidly;
  • Poor EIA;
  • Failure to maintain the same group of experts throughout the project;
  • Socio-political challenges and failure to engage with the interested and affected parties; and
  • Acceptance of overvalued incentives when engaging with landowners.

Reference Source: Environmental factors that influence site selection | Business Queensland