VAL GATELEY
Director of Ecology
Val Gateley
Director of Ecology
Val joined Land Studio in September 2023, with sixteen years’ experience in ecological consultancy, Val has provided ecological support on a wide variety of projects with experience in working with public body clients and private developers for a range of schemes including residential, infrastructure and habitat management/enhancement projects.
Val is particularly passionate about biodiversity enhancement and enjoys working on projects from the initial stages which enables him to work closely with project teams and help identify ways to ensure biodiversity enhancement is provided as part of a project. He is keen to ensure habitat improvement options are in tune with the local environment and proposed ecological mitigation design draws from the findings of the baseline survey work, information on nearby protected sites, local wildlife sites and habitats to ensure it in keeping with the local area and provides greatest opportunity for existing fauna to utilise.
Val is highly experienced in habitat survey and botanical identification. He holds a Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland Field Identification Skills Certificate at level 5. He has experience in National Vegetation Classification survey, hedgerow assessment and habitat survey techniques (Phase 1 and UK Habitat) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) condition assessment. Val became a full member of CIEEM in 2012 and in August 2023 became a FISC assessor.