The issue of contaminated land has developed and matured during the last decade to the point at which the redevelopment of brownfield sites is a key part of the government’s strategy for urban areas. Most managers in the property industry are now aware that the simple ‘dig and dump’ solutions of the past are often inappropriate and costly, particularly since the introduction of the landfill tax. The ‘fitness of purpose’ approach enshrined in the Environment Act 1995 has largely driven the technical strategies that are increasingly used to assess levels of cleanup. Meanwhile, the Groundwater Regulations and the recent implementation of Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 are driving the application of risk based methods. This change implies a significant shift away from the use of generic guidance limits such as the ICRCL or Netherlands standards, and there are major challenges involved in ensuring that both practitioners and regulatory bodies are trained and able to apply the new methods in a consistent and transparent, technically based manner.

Click here to see how ESI services the property sector.

Technical Issues

It is clear that the risk assessment approach (hazard-pathway-target) has become a central part of pollution control just as it is already an established part of Health and Safety. When properly executed it becomes a means of reaching cost-effective, reasoned and reasonable solutions to contamination issues. In response to this ESI have developed and published RAM, a tiered risk assessment model designed specifically to meet the Environment Agency requirements for application of their Remedial Targets Methodology (R&D Report 20) which allows ultimate flexibility in representation of site conceptual models within the framework of a robust and technically defensible methodology. These tools have been applied at numerous site investigation and remediation projects around the country and have been proven to meet the requirements of the Groundwater Regulations (1999) and Part llA of the EPA 1990 through regulatory acceptance and peer review

At ESI we have brought together a team with all the necessary skills to carry out contaminated land assessments safely and efficiently. We have an established track record in customising our risk assessment methodology to incorporate more sophisticated approaches for particular sites. ESI take a highly practical and pragmatic approach based on tiered site investigation methods supervised by experienced contaminated land professionals with strong regulatory consultation and negotiation skills. Our flexible risk assessment modelling is designed to represent key processes in the site conceptual model, rather than "shoe horning" data into hard-wired software packages that may be designed as reconnaissance or screening tools rather than site specific risk assessment tools.