Brownfield Development

Until you become a developer you may have been forgiven for thinking that brownfield sites are simply those that have recently been ploughed or left uncultivated.

Brownfield sites are those that have been developed before, often by industry, and are now in need of redevelopment if only a developer with enough enthusiasm to clean them up can be found. The fact remains, every town possesses brownfield sites.

Brownfield sites are unloved locations where long-forgotten factories once stood. The industries that once occupied these sites may be long gone, yet their legacy remains in the soil, and before anyone can build on them, these pollutants must be removed and disposed of.

Soil reports for brownfield sites to not make pleasant reading. Contaminated brownfield land can include contaminants ranging from mercury to lead; in fact, it’s now almost unheard of to discover a brownfield site which does not suffer from contamination.

For example, a timber yard may be rich in copper-chrome arsenic (CCA) from timber preservative spilled over years