MTE's Involvement
MTE was proud to provide civil and environmental engineering services to support the development of Charlie West and the transformation of 24 Gaukel Street—a 0.22-hectare site in the heart of downtown Kitchener.
Our work began during the due diligence phase, when the site was still occupied by a two-storey commercial building that included a service garage, fuel outlet, and coffee shop. As plans moved forward to replace the structure with a 31-storey residential tower featuring ground-floor retail and multi-level underground parking, our environmental team led a comprehensive scope of work to enable safe and compliant redevelopment.
This included:
- Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs)
- Risk Assessment
- Designated Substance Audit
- Dewatering Assessment
- Record of Site Condition submission
During our investigations, we identified several environmental concerns stemming from both historical and current site uses. Our Phase II ESA involved drilling 22 boreholes—16 of which were developed into permanent monitoring wells—to assess Areas of Potential Environmental Concern (APECs). Laboratory analysis confirmed the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the subsurface.
To mitigate potential health and environmental risks, MTE completed a Risk Assessment and recommended several risk management measures, including a hard cap barrier to prevent direct soil contact and the installation of a vapour intrusion mitigation system.
Ahead of demolition, our team conducted a Designated Substance Audit, identifying hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead, mercury, and ozone-depleting substances. We provided detailed abatement recommendations and prepared a Structural Demolition Report to support safe building removal.
We also prepared a Dewatering Assessment to plan for the estimated removal of 20 million litres of groundwater during excavation.
Through our integrated services, MTE helped create a safe redevelopment that contributes to the ongoing revitalization of downtown Kitchener.