New ground and environment consultants briefing

As waste management becomes more complex and potentially costly, there will be a greater need for expert assistance such as that available from STATS.

STATS Limited, a firm of independent consultants, arranged a breakfast briefing for customers at the company's impressive offices in the Coventry University TechnoCentre on Wednesday 29th March 2006.

STATS Chairman Adrian Marsh opened the meeting by explaining the reasoning behind the company's initiative to create a new Division in Coventry providing Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental services.

He explained, "STATS has always enjoyed a high level of expertise in these disciplines ".

"However, our activities in the Midlands are growing rapidly, as a result of projects such as the Bison factory at Swadlincote and the Barclay Homes redevelopment of part of the Royal Worcester site".

"We have therefore decided to create a new Division at Coventry in order to be able to provide a local service".

"The Division will be lead by Mark Steward who joins us from Halcrow and we will have created five new positions by the end of the first year." STATS Environment Director Clive Griffiths gave a short presentation on the application of Soil Guideline Values (SGVs) in the assessment of contaminated land, emphasising that SGVs help differentiate between 'no risk' and 'some risk', and that values exceeding the SGV do not necessarily place land on the Contaminated Land Register.

SGVs can be defined as 'intervention values' i.e.the concentration at or below which human exposure is tolerable or represents a minimal level of risk.

He warned delegates, however, that once an area is on the Contaminated Land Register it stays there, even if it is remediated, and this can have a serious effect on value.

Clive Griffiths will expand further on how environmental issues impact upon property value at a seminar in London on 10th May.

Mark Steward outlined the consultancy services that his division will provide within the Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental disciplines.

A key area of STATS activity lies with wastes management and Mark provided a description of recent legislative developments relating to Waste Management Licences, explaining that regulatory requirements are becoming tighter and fines for non-compliance are growing rapidly.

He warned "developers can no longer undertake certain waste disposal operations under the guise of an exempt activity".

"Anyone in doubt should assume that they need a Waste Management Licence Exemption and hold discussions with the Environment Agency to confirm this at an early stage".

As waste management becomes more complex and potentially costly, Mark foresees a greater need for expert assistance such as that available from STATS.

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