Commercial archaeology
Commercial archaeology in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire
We provide development-led archaeological services to organisations delivering development: assessment, evaluation, mitigation, excavation, reporting and planning condition discharge, scoped and programmed around the construction timetable.
- Appointed by
- Developers, consultants, contractors
- Base
- Cambridge
- Territory
- Cambridgeshire and surrounding areas
- Typical scale
- Multi-stage development programmes
What we do
A contractor built for development-led work, not academic research
Commercial archaeology exists because development disturbs buried remains and the planning system requires that disturbance to be understood and recorded. The archaeology is the technical discipline. Keeping your scheme moving is the commercial outcome.
- Assessment
- Desk-based assessment, site appraisal and pre-acquisition review to establish archaeological risk and the likely scale of requirement before commitment.
- Evaluation
- Geophysical survey and trial trenching, designed to answer the specific question the authority has asked — not to maximise fieldwork.
- Mitigation
- Mitigation strategy, negotiation with the authority, and delivery by targeted excavation, strip, map and sample, or monitored groundworks.
- Excavation
- Open-area excavation on multi-hectare sites, resourced against a fixed programme with defined plant, staffing and welfare requirements.
- Reporting
- Post-excavation assessment, specialist analysis, archive deposition and the reporting required for condition discharge.
- Project management
- Single point of technical and commercial responsibility across the whole archaeological sequence, including regulator liaison.
How we work
How an archaeological package is normally delivered
- 01
Position review
We read the planning permission, condition wording, brief and any previous archaeological work, and set out what is actually required.
- 02
Scope and programme
Scope, duration, staffing, plant and cost are defined against your programme, with the assumptions and risks stated explicitly.
- 03
Authority agreement
We prepare the Written Scheme of Investigation and agree it with the local authority archaeological advisor before mobilisation.
- 04
Delivery and discharge
Fieldwork is delivered to the agreed programme, followed by reporting and the evidence needed to discharge the condition.
Who we work with
The people we normally deal with
Archaeology is rarely the client's main concern, and rarely their specialism. Our contacts are usually the people holding the programme or the planning position.
- Development, land and project directors carrying the construction start date
- Planning consultants managing condition discharge and application strategy
- Environmental consultants coordinating archaeology within a wider EIA or technical package
- Main contractors and civil engineering firms programming enabling works
- Housebuilders and master developers delivering phased residential schemes
- Land promoters de-risking sites ahead of disposal
- Renewable energy, utilities and minerals developers
- Procurement and commercial teams issuing tendered archaeology packages
Common questions
Commercial archaeology: the questions we are asked most
What is the difference between a commercial archaeologist and an archaeological consultant?
A consultant advises on heritage risk, strategy and negotiation. A contractor delivers the fieldwork. On development sites the two roles are often held by different organisations, and the split matters commercially: advice without delivery capacity leaves your programme dependent on a third party's availability. We work across both, so the strategy we agree is the strategy we resource.
Do you work for developers, or for the local authority?
We are appointed by and act for the client — developer, housebuilder, land promoter, consultant or contractor. The local planning authority's archaeological advisor is the regulator: they set requirements and accept or reject the work. We are not part of any authority and do not provide official planning advice.
Can you take on work outside Cambridgeshire?
Cambridge is our operational base and Cambridgeshire is where we concentrate. For substantial or multi-stage programmes we mobilise across the wider East of England. Tell us where the site is and we will say plainly whether we are the right contractor for it.
How early should archaeology be involved in a development?
Before planning submission, and ideally before land acquisition. Archaeological risk identified at appraisal stage is a budget line and a programme assumption. The same risk identified after planning permission, with a construction start date fixed, is a delay.
Project review
Tell us what has been asked for
Send the planning reference, the condition wording or the archaeological brief. We will set out the requirement, the likely sequence and the programme implications.