Environmental consultancy award
ENVIRONMENTAL consultancy RSK Environment, whose headquarters are in Helsby, Cheshire, was named winner of two industry awards: Best Re-use Of Materials On A Project and Best Young Brownfield Professional at the 2018 Brownfield Briefing Awards.
Now in their 14th year, the annual awards are the flagship event for the brownfield sector and are one of the highest industry accolades that a company can receive.
RSK and RemedX (an RSK company) were also highly commended in the Best Scoping Or Operation Of A Site Investigation category for site investigation and remediation pilot scale testing work to clean up the land at a major former gasworks in the UK.
The award for Best Re- Use Of Materials On A Project was presented to RSK’s team based in Hemel Hempstead as a joint win with contractor VertaseFLI Ltd and client Taylor Wimpey for their work on the Sandford Farm landfill remediation project in Reading.
The site was originally a sand and gravel quarry that was later used as a ready-mix concrete batching site, before operating as a licensed inert landfill between 1981 and 1991.
Outline planning approval for 467 units on the site was granted in 2010, later increasing to 541 in 2016.
The development will contain a mixture of twobedroom apartments and two- to five-bedroom homes, with dedicated access to the neighbouring 40 hectare county park that Taylor Wimpey bought as part of the land deal.
RSK Environment supported Taylor Wimpey throughout both planning applications and contract negotiations for the land clean-up of the development.
The remedial works have involved digging out the former landfill material and sorting it to remove anything that could break down and produce carbon dioxide or methane.
Once fully sorted, the inert remaining material was placed back in the ground to an engineered, stable design.
The restoration methods used on the project, which retained over 90% of the original waste material on site, had not been tried on this scale before.
VertaseFLI and the Sandford Farm project was also shortlisted in the Best Project Closure/ Verification category, to which RSK contributed.
“Landfill remediation is a hot topic for RSK and the wider environmental industry with more sites being investigated as potential viable development opportunities,” explains RSK technical director David Jacob.
“The Sandford Farm project demonstrates what can be achieved on these complex, largescale schemes and highlights the wide capability of the group, with multiple departments being involved throughout the project.”
For the Best Young Brownfield Professional award, it was RSK senior geoenvironmental engineer Roseanna Bloxham who impressed the judges. Roseanna is currently the health and safety lead for RSK’s UK contract with Shell, where she is responsible for collating key metrics, leading safety campaigns and events aimed at continuously improving staff safety across the UK.
She also trains RSK’s new graduates by mentoring them in the field and delivering training presentations.
Her commitment to sharing skills and training the next generation also saw her become a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) ambassador.
Roseanna’s exceptional leadership skills, contribution to project delivery and enthusiasm for work within the brownfield industry enabled her to take the award home on the night.
She said: “I am delighted to have been ● named Best Young Brownfield Professional,” Roseanna commented.
“It is so important that young people are aware of the incredible career opportunities in the STEM subjects and I hope that this award will enable me to encourage more young professionals to join the brownfield industry.
“Huge congratulations to all my fellow finalists, including the RSK Sand- ford Farm team that was successful in its category, and the RSK gasworks team that was highly commended.”
The awards were presented at a ceremony on September 27 in London.
The annual awards recognise technical and conceptual excellence in projects that have been under way in the past 12 months.
There are 14 award categories.