MaRS (Marine Resource System)

Facilitating Strategic and Integrated Decision Making for the Marine Environment

The Crown Estate recognises that a strategic and proactive management approach will facilitate the equitable and sustainable use of the marine environment.

MaRS (Marine Resource System) is being developed to increase our expertise in the management of this key national asset and to ensure the multiple demands on this resource are managed in a responsible manner. Through improved management of the increasingly complex interactions between competing development activities, environmental considerations, legislative compliance and stakeholder demands, The Crown Estate aims to maximise the value and sustainable benefit of our marine asset for the benefit of the UK taxpayer.

MaRS is a decision-support tool which interrogates third party data sets using GIS technology to identify potential areas for sectoral development. The tool produces three key outputs: site suitability for potential business activity, the sustainability value of that activity and financial analysis of the potential revenue to the business which will enable long term informed decision-making for marine development. The process can be illustrated as follows.

Stage 1: Data Input and Constraints Analysis

Third party data sets (e.g. physical, environmental, industrial and other uses) are entered as GIS layers. A multi-sectoral analysis of layers applies buffer zones, weighting, data ‘rules’ and a sustainability index to best identify areas of conflict and potential development zones. For example, the map below shows potential development zones for windfarm development within the Irish Sea.

Stage 2: Complex Financial and Sustainability Analysis

Further analysis examines the data to identify; site suitability (specific sites with the highest development potential), sustainability analysis; each potential activity is interrogated against an agreed sustainability criteria and finally financial modelling to calculate the commercial value of each activity. The map below shows the same area of the Irish Sea divided into grids showing the megawatt capacity of each in relation to round 3 offshore wind development.

Stage 3: The Final Report

The final report allows the marine team to plot sustainability rating of each proposed activity against its return on investment. This will enable The Crown Estate to make informed and responsible decisions about the best potential development sites and develop a balance of uses across the marine estate. The report also identifies the probability of the investment materialising based on confidence around data used in the analysis, which will give the marine team more certainty around consenting programmes.

The Next Steps

MaRS has already been used to identify eleven indicative potential areas for offshore wind development for round 3. The zones identified will be subject to revision and The Crown Estate is currently engaging with stakeholders to further explore suitability within these zones.

The MaRS project is looking to complete by April 2009. The in-house development team at The Crown Estate are currently working on the refinement of the risk, sustainability and financial analysis tools. MaRS will be a dynamic and iterative system; data sets, constraints and policy will evolve over time and this will be reflected through constant engagement with industry, environmental groups and other stakeholders to ensure its ongoing currency in a dynamic environment.

By providing a means to strategically plan marine resource use through informed decision-making, MaRS allows The Crown Estate to apply its core principles of integrity, commercialism and stewardship in the face of increasing demands on this valuable yet sensitive resource.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Hannah Cherry
The Crown Estate
16 New Burlington Place
London
W1S 2HX

telephone    020 7851 5005
email