Car parks aren’t usually where you’d expect to find some of Britain’s rarest orchids. However, look carefully in the verdant verges of Chineham Park in Basingstoke, our hosts for Club BB 2025, and you’ll find sun-loving lizard orchids (fun fact: they smell distinctly of goats!) and pretty pyramidal orchids, whose densely packed flower spike holds up to 100 flowers.
It just goes to show, if we make space for nature it will thrive – even where you wouldn't expect it to.
This is the impetus behind Biodiversity Benchmark, which accredits the design and implementation of land management plans to ensure continual biodiversity enhancement. Or in other words, it checks how land is managed to make sure nature is always being improved. If it is, the land-owning business achieves the Benchmark plugging into a bigger picture of nature’s recovery across the UK.
Building a community of practice
Chineham Park achieved the Benchmark in February 2024, joining a diverse group of land-owning businesses who hold the Benchmark, from business parks and holiday villages to energy and water companies. All of these organisations will be doing some variation of the following core practices, tailored to their site’s habitats and landscape:
Club BB gives members a chance to come together to exchange practical ideas, experiences and challenges. Although members work in different sectors, they face similar challenges - including how to balance land management with day-to-day operations, and how to build internal support for long-term biodiversity goals.
However, the discussion this year included lots of positives too, including new green jobs being created, and how biodiversity is influencing site design, planning, and management. There’s growing interest in community-facing activities too, such as open days and forest schools. The business case is also strong, with Biodiversity Benchmark an important component of many organisations’ nature and ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategies.
Our tour of Chineham Park
With every Club BB meeting, there is also a tour of the site, which is how we happened upon the rare orchids. This year’s tour of the site was led by James Webster, Managing Director of ecological consultancy JW Biodiversity. Participants saw first-hand how the park integrates biodiversity into a busy commercial setting. The site includes 2.48 hectares of woodland, 1.63 hectares of enhanced grassland, a 484m² pond, and a wildflower meadow - all of which are managed to benefit wildlife, and staff.
Bruce Shortland
Notable species include slow worms, 11 species of bats, and dormice in the surrounding woodland. The site’s policy of avoiding mowing wherever possible has not only reduced their site maintenance costs but has increased plant diversity across the park and improved habitats for insects and other species.
The walk also took in fragments of ancient woodland that have become more ecologically connected through careful habitat management. This work makes a real difference to species that depend on linked-up green space.
Benchmarking That’s More Than a Badge
Biodiversity Benchmark is more than recognition — it’s a structured way to demonstrate that ESG claims are backed by measurable activity. For businesses managing land, the Benchmark provides a credible route to track progress and show stakeholders that biodiversity is being taken seriously.
Chineham Park – and all of our Benchmark holders - is a strong example of how biodiversity and business can work side by side. Thanks to Chineham Park for hosting the day - and to all Club BB members who joined us and took an active part in the day, but most importantly for their continued work in managing their land for nature.
To find out more about how the Benchmark might work for your organisation, please reach out to us here.
