Development of Brownfield Land : Focus for Housing Development

The development of Brownfield land will continue to be a focus for the next few years in the aim to provide much needed housing throughout the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-to-regenerate-england-s-cities-with-new-homes

The Government hopes to transform unused and derelict buildings while making the most of brownfield land. Also to tackle the housing shortage in urban areas by enabling commercial premises to be converted into new homes through a fast-track planning permission process.

Within the North West – The Greater Manchester’s Spatial Framework is a plan prepared on behalf of the city-regions 10 local authorities. The plan looks ahead over the period of 2020-2037 and focuses on making the most of Greater Manchester’s brownfield sites, prioritising redevelopment of town centres and other sustainable locations. It hopes to address the housing crisis with a minimum target of 50,000 additional affordable homes – 30,000 of which will be social housing.

The team at Earth Environmental knows the development of Brownfield land and conversion of commercial properties to residential dwellings is a great opportunity but does however carry potential risks that need to be identified.

Brownfield land and commercial sites frequently have significant geotechnical and environmental issues that need to be fully understood. Developers need a clear understanding of all the risks and a detailed plan of how to mitigate those risks before construction.

From experience, Earth Environmental & Geotechnical know that having detailed site investigations and a robust remediation strategy is essential for successful development of brownfield land.

It is much more cost effective for a developer to deal with the issues before construction starts than to stop construction when underlying issues are found. Or worse still to complete a development when there is an underlying risk to properties or inhabitants.

It is essential to adopt a pro-active risk management regime when developing previously used land or converting commercial premises to domestic dwellings.It may not be obvious that land is contaminated just by looking at it. Sometimes contaminants can be transported distances by ground water. The land may be contaminated from historical industrial waste. Or there may be geotechnical issues which are not visually evident, this is why detailed quantitative risk assessments are always needed to assess if your site has a potential risk or hazard.

Earth Environmental & Geotechnical have extensive experience of a range of Geotechnical and Geological services required for the development of Brownfield sites

including:

• Phase 1 Desk Study
• Site Investigation
• Contaminated Land Risk Assessments
• Ground Gas Risk Assessments
• Monitoring Services
• Ground Investigation
• Coal Mining Risk Assessments
• Earthworks Method Statements
• Materials Management Plans
• Conceptual Site Models
• Flood Risk Assessments
• Basement Impact Assessment