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Building Industry Finance, Law and Insurance
News Release from: Aon | Subject: Brownfield building sites - the risks
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 30 July 2007
Who will clean up brownfield building
sites?
Aon, UK's leading risk consultant and insurance broker, calls for clarity over who is liable for clean up costs and risks from contamination on brownfield sites.
Significant clean-up costs lurk beneath Brown's 3 million new homes pledge Aon, the UK's leading risk consultant and insurance broker, is calling for clarity over who should be held liable for clean up costs and other harm to people and property arising from possible contamination on brownfield sites
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 13 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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As many as two-thirds of the three million new affordable homes pledged by Prime Minister Gordon Brown are likely to be built on former industrial land, including former landfill sites.
But at present, there is no clarity around who would be held liable for the consequences of contamination created by previous owners and past use of the land.
Bob Martin, a director of Aon's Environmental Consulting and Solutions unit (ECAS), is concerned that the government has provided no answers as to who will and should carry the liability for the consequences of any legacy contamination issues that could arise from these sites in the future.
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"Recent case law should raise significant concerns for former owners, potential developers as well as future owners and tenants of properties built on brownfield sites.
The possibility has been raised that even the current owners or tenants could be liable to meet clean up costs or other liabilities for contamination caused by former owners or redevelopers.
"This concern is particularly relevant given the current flooding.
Because a lot of our industries grew up by rivers and canals, so many of the brownfield sites the government intends building on will be on flood plains, and water is a ready medium through which historic contamination can become mobilised.
"All that is clear about this issue at the moment is that there is no clarity.
Is it time for the government to impose a mandatory requirement on past or present owners and/or redevelopers to have adequate financial security or environmental insurance in place for a suitably long period.
Bob explained that a mandatory financial security requirement was dropped from the final version of the EU's Environmental Liability Directive, but this does not mean it could not be enacted into UK law to protect eventual owners or tenants of brownfield site developments and others who may be harmed by any contamination that might migrate off these sites.
He believes that there is now a strong case to introduce a statutory environmental insurance requirement on either the developer and/or the past or present owners.
About Aon:.
Aon Corporation is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting.
There are 43,000employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries.
Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.
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