Buro Happold co-authors updated guidance for development on land affected by contamination
Hugh Mallett, Associate Director of Buro Happold’s Ground Engineering team, has co-authored guidance on the safe development of housing on land affected by contamination, published by the National House-Building Council (NHBC), the Environment Agency and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).
NHBC, the Environment Agency and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) have today announced the release of revised guidance on the safe development of housing on land affected by contamination which can be downloaded free of charge from their respective websites.
Written by experts Hugh Mallett (Buro Happold) and Louise Beale (Enviros) the new document updates and replaces the well-known ‘R&D 66’, published in 2000, by reference to numerous subsequent publications including the Environment Agency’s ‘Model Procedures for the Management of Land Contamination’ (CLR11).
The new guidance provides user-friendly, accessible and pragmatic advice for developers, regulators and their specialist advisors. It promotes good practice and provides helpful pointers, templates and worked examples. While focussing on housing development, it is also of use when any development is proposed on brownfield or greenfield land affected by contamination.
George Fordyce, Head of Engineering Policy at NHBC, said: “The safe development of housing on ‘brownfield land’ is fundamental to the delivery of sustainable development and to meeting Government targets for new house building which is an essential element in accommodating household growth.”
Howard Price, Principal Policy Officer at the CIEH, added: “Paramount to the sustainability of such development, however, is the management of environmental risks – during construction and the subsequent occupation of new homes by residents – among them the risks arising from the use of contaminated sites.”
Sheena Engineer, Land Contamination Policy Manager at the Environment Agency concluded: “All the partners hope this guidance will encourage better risk assessment and management which will give regulators better information on which to base decisions. Used with the ‘Model Procedures’ it will encourage appropriate development of land affected by contamination that will benefit everyone involved and improve the environment.”
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Note to Editors:
Guidance for the Safe Development of Housing on Land Affected by Contamination (2008) is published on-line in two volumes by NHBC (www.nhbcbuilder.co.uk/Buildersupportservices/Technicaladvicesupport/Publications/ContaminatedLandDevelopment), the Environment Agency (www.environment-agency.gov.uk) and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (www.cieh.org)
Writing of the document was funded by NHBC. Publication was funded by the CIEH. The Environment Agency joined these two on the project steering group
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976, offering structural, building services, civil, infrastructure and façade engineering, as well as a broad range of specialist consultancy services including sustainability, ground and environmental engineering, fire and security design, health and safety management, inclusive and urban design, project management, and specialist CAD and computer simulation provision.
For further information on Buro Happold and our projects, please visit our website www.burohappold.com. For more information pertaining to this release please contact Gill Sincock, Press and PR Manager, tel: +44 (0)01225 320600 ext. 2938 or email gill.sincock@burohappold.com
Enviros Consulting has more than 30 years’ experience in helping organisations achieve competitive advantage through improved environmental and social performance. We are the No. 1 brand in environmental consultancy as voted by clients and industry professionals in the ENDS consultancy survey 2007. Our vision is to help our clients do business today and have the world they want tomorrow. As a founding member of the CAT Alliance with operations in over 50 countries, we have the capability and experience to advise our clients globally. We have over 70 staff throughout the UK involved in the assessment, investigation and remediation of contaminated land. A full description of our integrated services together with news and client case studies can be found at www.enviros.com. Enviros Consulting is a Carillion plc company. We are certified to OHSAS 18001, ISO9001 and ISO14001 and carefully manage and reduce our carbon emissions. For further information please contact Niki Nixon, tel: 020 7421 6341 or niki.nixon@enviros.com
NHBC (the National House-Building Council) is the standard setting body and leading warranty and insurance provider for new and newly converted homes in the UK. NHBC's role is to work with the house-building and wider construction industry to provide risk management services that raise the standards of new homes, and to provide consumer protection to new home buyers
The Environment Agency is the leading organisation for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. We are responsible for making sure that air, land and water are looked after by today’s society, so that tomorrow’s generations inherit a cleaner, healthier world
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) is the professional voice for environmental health in England, Wales and N Ireland with over 10,000 members in the public, private and non-profit sectors. It ensures the highest standards of professional competence in its members in the belief that through environmental health action people’s health can be improved. For more information, contact James Davis, Senior Communications Executive, tel: +44 (0) 20 7827 6303 or j.davis@cieh.org
