Dealing with hazardous materials on brownfield land can be an expensive business. Mick George Environmental can handle and, crucially, recycle soils, avoiding landfill and ultimately saving money
Despite accounting for what is believed to be every eventuality at the outset, one of the common aggravations among developers is rising costs that incur throughout a construction project.
Unfortunately, ‘developments’ by nature do exactly that: develop. Often the expenditure is generally accepted as an investment, rather than a cost, with works considered a necessity that will consequently offer improvement. Annoying nonetheless – and are these costs avoidable?
Nowhere is this more apparent than in land development. Just when you think that you’ve accumulated all the associated fees, unwanted charges persistently mount. One area where this is particularly prevalent is the increasing frequency of hazardous materials located in soils that form the foundation of a scheme.
Many developers do not have the capability or accreditation to suitably manage this problem, and will therefore seek external assistance. However, those operators who can handle hazardous materials usually pass on large costs to the client, to cover landfill taxes that are sustained for their inability to recycle such materials.
However, that isn’t always the case and there are alternative options. Construction business Mick George Ltd has the capacity to remove, haul, dispose and, most importantly, recycle hazardous soils, and consequently should be a considered option for those organisations or individuals that are looking to prevent, quite literally ‘burying profits in the ground’.
Let’s put that into context. The value of construction contracts awarded in the UK surpassed £70bn in 2016, accounting for 12,000 individual projects. Of which, £23.6bn was dedicated to housebuilding, which has witnessed an emerging trend in the use of brownfield, as opposed to greenfield sites, whereby hazardous soils are more commonly detected.
The scale of the problem is escalating, and the numbers aforementioned provide food for thought on the potential savings to be had.
Specifically, in relation to contaminated land or soils, Mick George Ltd possesses state-of-the-art soil washing plant that is licensed to treat contaminated materials, providing a sustainable diversion from landfill.
The soil washing process separates contaminated material using various wet-jetting processes, during which intensive washing takes place. Once complete, the clean material is classified according to size, with the finest fraction dewatered using a centrifuge. The process produces a WRAP-approved aggregate, which can be used on sites for backfill and other applications, hence the financial savings to be reaped by developers.
A whole array of materials can be treated, from soils, oily sludges, pile arisings and railway ballast through to treatment of plant residues, river and lagoon dredgings, as well as tunnel shaft components.
With over 35 years’ experience, Mick George Environmental provides a broad range of solutions, including site investigation, analysis at UKAS-accredited labs, classification of chemical data, supply of certified aggregates, as well as a variety of treatment options, such as bio-remediation, soil washing, incineration and dig and dump.
Jon Stump, Finance Director at Mick George Ltd, said: “For many, even the most experienced brownfield site developers, let alone smaller operations, the assumption is that waste is exactly that, and once disposed of, that is the end of the line.
“That doesn’t have to be the case, and experienced handlers like ourselves will do what they can to recycle it, avoiding landfill and in turn effectively saving huge sums of money, which are passed on to clients.”
Sean Feeley
Communications Manager
Mick George Limited
Tel: 01480 499158
Twitter: @mickgeorgeltd
Please note: this is a commercial profile.
