Hamilton Police Services Storage Building | Hamilton, Ontario
Services
Project Value
$70,000
Project Overview
The City of Hamilton retained MTE to provide consulting services to support the development of a new Hamilton Police Services (HPS) forensic facility. Through extensive site assessments and investigations, our team was able to develop a cost-effective strategy to manage and remediate environmental concerns prior to and during the construction of the new facility.
The site, which consisted of a parking lot, vacant land and a one-storey building, had several historical uses, the most noteworthy being a large GO Transit bus repair facility that was decommissioned in the early 2000s. Due to the historical use of the site, environmental assessments were necessary for due-diligence purposes in support of future construction.
As a first step in preventing worker exposure to possible designated substances, our team carried out a Designated Substance and Hazardous Materials Assessment of the building prior to demolition. Since our testing confirmed the presence of asbestos and lead, our team provided specifications for its removal prior to demolition in addition to milestone inspections to verify that abatement work was being completed properly.
MTE’s Involvement
In order to deliver a comprehensive overview of the site’s condition, our project team conducted numerous assessments of the property. Our initial investigation involved the review of historical documents and previous environmental and remediation reports with the aim of identifying potential data gaps and the need for additional testing.
We conducted a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) to further evaluate the condition of the property prior to the development of the HPS building. The assessment involved installing monitoring wells to assess the soil and groundwater quality and although the results of these tests found that the majority of contaminated soil had been removed, a few areas on site were found to still contain chemicals of concern.
We also completed an evaluation of soil conditions to accommodate the design of future building foundations, and parking and pavement driveway structures. Additionally, we completed a hydrogeological review and dewatering assessment with the purpose of determining the need for and potential effects of dewatering activities during construction of the new building.
Considering the results of the extensive investigations, our team was able to develop a thorough yet cost-effective environmental contamination management plan consisting of:
-
- An Excess Soil Management Plan allowing excess soil to be re-used during construction;
- A Due Diligence Risk Assessment to evaluate the potential risks to human health and ecological receptors on the site; and
- Risk Management Measures to prevent exposure to contaminated soils.
Our team’s ability to fully service the City’s needs with our internal network of environmental resources provided our client with a variety of cost effective and convenient solutions for mitigating environmental concerns during the re-development of this site.
