A land, consent management, and stakeholder engagement company with a site in Warrington has achieved a major milestone.

Ardent, which has offices across the UK, has become the first consultancy to be instructed on its 100th Development Consent Order (DCO).

DCOs were introduced in the Planning Act 2008 to secure timely consent for major schemes like transport, utilities, and renewable infrastructure projects.

The company now employs almost 200 people across sites in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Warrington, Glasgow, and Dublin.

Ardent worked on the first ever DCO in the UK, Rookery South, a waste-to-energy facility in Stewartby, Bedfordshire.

The company's involvement included the production of application documents, identification of land and property impacts, landowner engagement, consultation, and land acquisition negotiations.

The Infrastructure Planning Commission granted the DCO in 2011 to Covanta Energy, and the facility now generates enough electricity to power 112,500 homes.

Since then, Ardent has supported a variety of projects, including 25 solar energy developments and multiple offshore wind projects.

Combined, these projects will generate enough electricity to power more than two million UK homes.

The company has also supported a range of rail and highway projects, strategic rail freight interchanges, overhead electricity lines, and multiple energy-from-waste schemes.

Jonathan Stott, group managing director, said: "It is an incredible achievement to hit this milestone.

"The team has supported well over half of the nationally significant infrastructure projects to come forward across the country over the past decade-and-a-half.

"The social, environmental, and economic benefits of that work cannot be underestimated as it is helping to deliver energy, transport and development that are, by their very definition, nationally significant and fits in with our company purpose of delivering life-improving change."

One of its most complex instructions was its involvement in the Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station, one of the largest UK infrastructure projects, through its land referencing and consents management teams.

The company supported the DCO application from 2018 through to submission in 2020 and has continued to provide consultancy on the project after the DCO was granted in 2022.

Richard Caten, chief executive, said: "We are proud of our heritage in the infrastructure sector, where we were advising on major projects for 15 years prior to the DCO regime being established.

"To build on that experience and become the first consultancy to reach this milestone speaks volumes of our experience and expertise, and we’re grateful to the many clients who have trusted us to advise them through the process."

Their 100th DCO instruction is another major solar project that will deliver more than 500MW of electricity.

Ardent will support this project with land and community engagement services, once again utilising its Atlas digital applications for all engagement interactions.

Ardent's consents management consultancy managing director, Viki James, commented: "DCOs remain a very effective consenting route for most major projects, and our team plays an essential role in supporting clients to take consents into delivery.

"As an industry, we have to make sure that the gap between consent and delivery is bridged and that’s something Ardent does well because we don’t look to achieve consent for consent’s sake.

"We leverage our experience to ensure consents are deliverable, and work with contractors to make sure they are familiar with the conditions, opportunities and limitations that the DCO provides, avoiding the pitfalls that can otherwise appear as projects move from consent to delivery."

Ardent anticipates more renewable projects coming forward for DCOs in the coming years, including battery storage and hydrogen, as well as more solar and offshore wind projects.

Mr Stott added: "Across our range of disciplines and our teams, we offer a truly unique range of services to support major infrastructure projects, and we’re looking forward to our 101st instruction in the next few weeks."