Change and growth - what we’ve learned from a year in the BNG market

Greg Lukasiewicz, Sales & Marketing Director, Halnaker Hill Farm

At Halnaker Hill Farm, alongside renaturing our beautiful 330 acres of land, we have been actively promoting the resulting 856 Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units as a solution for developers’ off-site needs, as well as for corporate and individuals for voluntary credits.

Just over a year since the project’s official launch, we have a first-hand view of how this new and evolving market is taking shape, and what buyers are demanding.

Bringing BNG units to market involves a host of interlinked factors including habitat creation, ecological assessment, planning, registration and long-term management and monitoring.

We have been working to help stakeholders understand how BNG works through farm tours, networking, and by providing resources like our free BNG guide, which can be found here.

We are seeing interest in Halnaker Hill Farm BNG steadily building as mandatory off-site requirements for developers work through the planning system, coming from a range of development types. Nearly 60% of enquiries this year have been from residential developers, with the balance a mix of commercial, infrastructure and other sectors, including educational and sports projects.

This underlines to us the importance of being flexible and responsive, and providing a range of habitats. At the same time, while the ecological requirements of projects can be very different from scheme to scheme, developers all want certainty around availability, pricing, registration and management. Halnaker Hill is a high integrity project secured under a 30-year agreement with South Downs National Park.

One of the clearest lessons across the industry is that the BNG market moves slowly. Developers have to work through the planning system, establish their biodiversity baseline and understand what can be delivered on-site before looking at off-site units, agreeing the solution with the planning authority. This means there can be a significant lag between an initial enquiry and a completed transaction.

However, the market is naturally gathering pace. Nationally, the number of registered habitat sites has grown from just 46 in early 2025 to nearly 400 by September 2026, with over 12,000 hectares of registered habitat. At the same time allocations have accelerated, with over 3,400 units registered compared with 1,300 at the start of the year.

There are now an estimated 50,000 BNG units available nationally, with some areas experiencing a surplus of common habitat types. Meanwhile, areas with strong development demand can have much less local supply.

This makes the relationship between where units are created and where development takes place increasingly important. At Halnaker, our location in South East England is in proximity to areas of significant development activity, which is a valued part of our proposition.

We are still at an early stage, and the rules are continuing to evolve.

From August 2026, new exemptions apply to certain small developments and other specified projects. From November, BNG will extend to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects requiring Development Consent Orders – this is expected to result in an increase in large off-site requirements, potentially phased over a period of years. In early 2027 the boundaries used for habitat trading will shift from 300 local and national areas to 48 larger regional zones, making the system easier to navigate and manage.

For everyone involved, the lesson is that the market is constantly changing, and so we will continue to learn from the ecologists and developers we work with, adapt to what the market needs and focus on creating high-quality habitats that deliver lasting biodiversity benefits.

To enquire about purchasing BNG units at Halnaker Hill Farm, see here.

Download our free BNG guide with one click here.

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