Reusing brownfield land and cleaning up contaminated sites demonstrates your commitment to sustainability, but how do you ensure your clean-up solution is both timely and cost effective?
Our years of experience mean that we understand soil and we know that each client and project is unique. Our geoenvironmental consultants address project needs by providing tailored solutions and delivering efficient, waste-reducing results.
Our clients tell us that we save them considerable amounts of money when it comes to soil remediation. In general, our fees represent about a quarter of the overall costs of a remediation project. By assisting you to design a ‘smart’ remediation solution, we can often help you save up to 50% on project costs.
We also carry out risk-based brownfield site assessments so that you can avoid unnecessary remediation.
Preliminary risk assessment
Structural Soils has extensive experience of undertaking preliminary risk assessments, also referred to as Phase 1 investigations or desk studies, for land contamination investigation. For more information, see Desk study/preliminary risk assessment.
Intrusive ground investigations
Based on our understanding of why a client requires investigation work, our geoenvironmental services staff will design a ground investigation to meet their objectives. This may be to support discharging a planning application, discharging a duty of care where no regulatory body is involved or assessing environmental liabilities associated with land assets.
Environmental ground investigation often utilises the low-disturbance technique of dynamic sampling, as well as excavator-dug trial pits and cable percussion boreholes. Our site technicians often install standpipes to monitor and sample groundwater and soil gases.
Please see the relevant page for more information on our ground investigation services, including in-situ testing, instrumentation and monitoring and laboratory testing (soil, rock and materials testing)
Reporting and advice
Following desk-based and intrusive works, we provide clients with interpretive reports that assess and advise on
- Long-term risks to human health
- Controlled waters
- Buried concrete and services
- An updated conceptual model and risk assessment
- Detailed quantitative risk assessments
- Initial waste characterisation
- Waste Acceptance Criteria tests
For geotechnical aspects such as foundation advice and retaining wall design, see geotechnical services.
Remediation and validation work
We have extensive consultancy experience in supporting the redevelopment of brownfield land and the assessment of risk to human health and groundwater. Throughout the development stage, we can design and assist with supervision and validation/verification of the remediation process, including the required reporting.
We routinely liaise with local authorities, the Environment Agency or Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and the National House-Building Council during investigation and remediation. We can undertake qualitative and quantitative risk assessments to ensure that remediation projects address all issues of concern.
