Development on Contaminated Soils. Some Huge Cost Savings by Simple Landscaping Methods.

In Cornwall, as in some other post industrial sites in the UK and Europe, there are considerable areas of arsenic ridden soils, or other heavy metals.If you are building, be it a new conservatory through to an industrial warehouse, you may be asked to provide the results of a soil test to determine the quantity of contaminants in the soil.As such you may find that the proposed development is financially unviable as the method of remediation is too much. The recommendations may state that up to 1000mm of the existing top soil is removed, and will need to be disposed of to a waste transfer station capable of handling contaminated materials, (eg costly), and replaced with 1000mm of certified top soil, (eg costly).It is been agreed that this is overkill and many local authorities will allow for additional remediation, mainly due to reducing CO2 emissions and in line with the push for 'sustainability'.Very simple Bioremediation and Phytoremediation practices, (bear with me - these words are the buzz words for systems landscapers and gardeners have been using for years), will produce the desired final result, without the need for the above measures.However the biggest problem is the fact that almost all developers will only consult the practicing landscaper after the build has commenced and often the recommendations for the remediation have been given after landscape architects have produced the necessary plans for planning officials.We have found that the majority of local authorities will allow the following remediation as an alternative to removal, disposal and transfer of clean soil:In areas destined to be amenity grassland: A depth of 100mm is to be cleared, or overlay of 100mm allowed for. A plastic secured over the contaminated soil, (pegs to a depth of 500mm), with holes no more than 10mm, with a top dressing mix of clean soil, sand and compost material. Then seeded or turfed is more than sufficient.Contaminated soils can be retained within landscaping structures such as 'ha - ha's', dry stone walls, patio's etc., as long as a strong enough membrane is allowed.Large 'bunds' of contaminated soils, completely wrapped in suitable membrane, can be incoporated into landscaping designs and then planted with a density of suitable trees or shrubs. The trees planted must be ornamental only, (no edible fruits), as such the best are Alnus, Salix, Hippophae, Eleagnus & Bamboo varieties, which are known to slowly remediate the soils of some of the contaminants. These methods can be seen in abundance in the Pas de Calais region of France.There are many other tricks and indeed the authorities seem to be keen to embrace any operation which can be shown to work. And as such most landscapers are capable of saving developers considerable sums of money if they are approached early enough.www.paysagedurable.com

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