The changing world of remediation

LONDON - Aug. 22, 2014 - PRLog -- The world of remediation is changing rapidly and subject to wide ranging influences - the changing stance at European level, the rise of awareness of the problem with asbestos in soils, the changing brownfield marketplace, increasing confidence in stabilisation and solidification as a technique, greening existing technologies and lowering carbon footprints.

All these issues will be discussed at a conference in London, Risk Assessment and Remediation 2014, at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, London E1 on 23 and 24^th October.

Maggie Charnley, Head of Soils and Contaminated Land, DEFRA, will provide a government perspective on contaminated land policy in practice. This includes an update on outputs from the State of Contaminated Land Report - assessing the impact the revisions to statutory risk assessment guidance and the NPPF are having on the brownfield and contaminated land industry, clarifying funding available to replace the Capital Grants scheme and how this can be accessed and European developments, including “land as a resource”.

The conference will look at defining remediation objectives at an early stage. This includes aligning data requirements with those of regulators, planners, engineers and the client and how applying different weighting to risk and remedial options as well as site-specific assessment criteria can result in a very different remedial option decision along with techniques for determining the most viable solution

Effective monitoring and verification measures in the remediation strategy will be covered byJonathan Steeds, Technical Director, Atkins. This includes techniques for more accurately identifying and defining the level of risk, demonstrating multiple lines of evidence, managing the trade-off between opinion vs quantifiable results and determining and managing risk-associated liabilities.

How to achieve the balance between cost and resource input and environmental benefit will be examined by Steve Edgar, Director, Vertase FLI. This includesmaximising opportunities for re-using materials on site throughout the remediation process and in site end-use, “greening” existing remediation technologies, building relationships between contractor-consultant-client to achieve a holistic, cost-efficient and sustainable approach and using incentives and sustainable performance benchmarks.

What are the current strategies for the identification, remediation and re-use of asbestos-contaminated materials? Mike Higgins, Managing Director, Land Remediation, Hydrock and James Macfarlane, Asbestos Manager, Hydrock will examine them, including looking at current guidance, re-use and practicalities of remediation.

What do developers think of the current market for brownfield? Frank Evans, Land Regeneration Programme Manager, National Grid Property will look at the developer’s perspective on current conditions, along with planning and regulatory changes, brownfield challenges and solutions.

The conference will also cover the financier’s perspective including their attitude to risk and the development of brownfield sites.The financial industry’s current appetite for risk with regards to brownfield development will be clarified along with the types of projects receiving investment and why, or why not.

Phil Crowcroft, Partner, Environmental Resources Management will look at the use of emerging and in-situ assessment and remediation techniques within the current UK regulatory framework. He will examine how regulators influence the technology approach, performance based objectives and achieving sustainability at the investigation and appraisal stage.

How do you procure existing and emerging remediation technologies? Dr Ian Ross, Partner, ARCADIS EC Harris will look at the procurement as well as theevaluation of site investigation uncertainties and investigative tools used to delineate contaminated areas to refine site conceptual models. How site investigation data is converted into a remedial design, considering hydrogeology, contaminant chemistry, geology, fate and transport, microbiology and the procurement of remediation, prices for defined scopes, or defined outcomes considering risks.

How do you ensure the long-term durability of stabilisation and solidification as a remedial solution for heavily contaminated soils? Christine Mardle, Business Development, Celtic Technologies & Biogenie Site Remediation, subsidiaries of EnGlobe Corp will examine the cost effectiveness of stabilisation and solidification of grossly tar impacted soils, predicting long term performance by trials.

Dr Jeremy Birnstingl, Vice President – Environmental Technology, Regenesis will look at rapid risk-reduction and accelerated bioremediation using a dispersive injectable reagent. He will outline the background to the development of the technology and how it works

Lowering the carbon footprint with thermal remediation will be explained by James Baldock, Technical Director, Contaminated Site Management, ERM UK. He will look at in-situ thermal remediation and lowering the carbon footprint. He will examine where to apply thermal technologies, look at sustainable operational and monitoring strategies as well as combining thermal with less energy intensive technologies.