If you’re reading this then you’ve probably been asked by your local planners or funders to undertake a site environmental survey, including intrusive investigation where necessary, to establish any environmental risks that may exist on your site.
The process to achieve this is fairly straight forward and follows a standard method – see CLR11 for more details.
Firstly you require, what is called in the trade, a ‘Phase I Report’ that should include;
- Historical research from available maps, plans, records, etc to discover the past and current activities of the site and those of adjoining properties to establish the historical usage and any likely sources of contamination e.g pollution incidents
- Identification of potential receptors (you, me, surface water courses, aquifers, buildings, ecological receptors, etc) that can be affected by any identified sources of contamination.
- Determination of the site’s environmental setting i.e. location, geology, hydrogeology, proximity to open/closed landfill sites, etc.
- A site walk over – not Google Street View…! (a useful tool but not a replacement for visiting the site and seeing it through trained eyes).
- Consultation with relevant environmental regulators – the earlier we communicate with them the less pain we all have throughout the process.
The Phase 1 report will detail our findings together with a conceptual model for the site. Should the report identify any potential environmental risks that cannot be mitigated through an environmental management plan then we will also include a strategy for the next step in the process, which is called a Phase 2 Intrusive Ground Investigations and Quantitative Risk Assessment.
If you don’t know where to start, why not e-mail us or phone on (0800 0209 307) to find out more.