BWB Consulting - Integrated Engineering and Environmental Consultants
The Fort
Location: Birmingham
Services:
- Environmental Due Diligence
- Ground Investigation, Assessment and Risk Assessment
- Remediation Design, Supervision and Validation
Sectors:
BWB´s Environmental Division provided consultancy services from the due diligence required at the feasibility stage, continuing through site acquisition to site clearance and infrastructure works up to development platform for a distribution park. The acquisition of the site by ProLogis Developments Ltd included additional site investigation and quantitative risk assessment using empirical modelling of groundwater interactions to fully assess environmental liability issues.
The 79 acre site was found to be contaminated with a variety of contaminants, mainly petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Significant contamination was present in the central area of the site where waste oil had leaked into the underlying soils and groundwater from storage tanks and chimney bases over the last 60 years.
The site is underlain by river sand and gravel deposits classified as a minor aquifer and the area of hydrocarbon contamination was approximately 300m from a river. A remediation strategy was devised based on a quantitative risk assessment, which enabled the potential impact of contamination on the river to be assessed. Hydrocarbon floating on the groundwater was removed by pumping and in-situ bioremediation was used to treat the contaminated soil, heavily impacted with hydrocarbons, to acceptable levels. In-situ bioremediation allowed the demolition, site clearance and infrastructure works to progress unhindered by the remediation process. The groundwater was monitored throughout to check that contamination had not been mobilised and that the predictions of the quantitative risk assessment were reasonable.
Following re-profiling and remediation works the site was subject to chemical validation testing of the soils to ensure that the site action criteria had been achieved across the site.
BWB were present full time during the site works and provided real-time advice when unexpected conditions threatened to hinder the progress of the works. The use of in-situ bioremediation as an innovative remediation technique proved to be particularly successful in terms of minimising impact to the site clearance and infrastructure contract. The site has been successfully remediated and is currently being re-developed.