Winnington Urban Village, an affordable housing project, will deliver 1200 homes, including a school and a village centre, over three phrases in Northwich, UK. However, the site once housed a former chemical plant that produced, stored and distributed soda ash and required urgent remediation to pass all necessary regulatory obligations.
RSK was heavily involved in all project phases. We project-managed the development, prepared and reviewed contracts, liaised with contractors and local authorities, acted as the principal remediation strategy designer and completed several site investigations. Through ongoing meetings with regulators, we ensured that the requisite standards were achieved.
Specifically, the prime objective was to outline compact and widespread remediation strategies. Data specialists summarised the previous site investigation findings, developed a conceptual model of contamination and the general remediation objectives and methods.
The nitty-gritty: remediating and redeveloping
• Conducting more soil and groundwater investigations and updating data
• Breaking significant future pollutant links resulting from changing land use, shallow garden soil, human exposure and potential pollution of a nearby river
• Removing or remediating significant pollution sources such as hydrocarbons, metals and ammonia hot spots
• Making contingency plans to deal with any undisclosed contamination
• Removing development constraints and physically preparing the site for residential development
• Agreeing on remediation targets with the Environment Agency to minimise any potential for the site’s future to be determined under Part 2A Contaminated Land because of polluting controlled waters
• Managing all the air and water emissions to protect surface water, groundwater and the atmosphere
• Providing additional protection during construction, including building vapour barriers, water mains protection and garden and open space soil quality
• Recording, collating and sharing information about ground conditions and contamination with key stakeholders and the regulatory authorities
RSK’s work was highly commended by key stakeholders and the regulatory authorities for being focused. The client hired RSK for the ongoing work on the next two phases.