The client was redeveloping a former farm with housing. Previous works by Delta-Simons had identified localised hydrocarbon contamination which warranted remediation to mitigate risks to future residents and to the principal aquifer below the Site. The principal contractor for the redevelopment had appointed a specialist remediation subcontractor to deliver a solution primarily involving stabilisation (immobilisation of contamination).
Purpose
Following completion of the remediation works and with the development above slab level, weak record keeping and a bullish attitude to regulatory involvement had led to a potential breach of planning conditions and a risk of enforcement action.
The client was seeking an independent expert to:
- Review the contamination and remediation issues;
- Engage and discuss with relevant regulators how the issues might be resolved;
- Provide advice on the steps needed to resolve the issues, enable planning condition discharge and ultimately release the houses for sale
Scope of Works
- Delta-Simons conducted a review of the completed remediation report and associated regulatory correspondence. We engaged with the local Contaminated Land Officer and the Environment Agency with regards the perceived issues relating to risks to human health and controlled waters.
- We identified that there had not been regulatory approval to the remediation technique which was used on Site, and subsequent post-remediation submissions by the principal contractor and remediation subcontractor had confused matters resulting in multiple queries from both regulators.
- Constructive regulatory engagement allowed us to batch the outstanding matters and confirm the full extent of regulatory concerns. Delta-Simons was then able to establish a clear way forward with well-defined next-steps to demonstrate to the regulators that suitable mitigation had in fact been delivered on Site and risks to potential receptors were suitably addressed.
- We collated relevant evidence and provided lines of evidence to address each concern in turn and our final submission resulted in all remaining contaminated land conditions being discharged.
