How does the cost of soil bioengineering compare with traditional methods?
Ms. Sotir: A soil bioengineered approach such as a VRSS offers more benefits than, for example, a conventional retaining wall, including improvements to water and air quality, noise absorption and stormwater runoff reduction. With all of this they are typically competitive with conventional methods. A concrete wall, for example, will increase noise, heat and runoff substantially. The planning stages of soil bioengineering, however, do cost more than conventional approaches. More comes into play. In a conventional approach, you would require a geo-technical engineer, maybe a civil engineer and a surveyor. With soil bioengineering, you need a surveyor, a civil engineer, geotechnical expertise, perhaps a geomorphologist, biologist or botanist, a soil bioengineer. You may need ecologists, horticultural people, ornamental or perhaps native plants specialists. The team is larger, the result is a more complete kind of solution with more function. We have enhanced wildlife habitat, ecological
