THE CHALLENGE: A former textile factory site looked like a promising location for a new suburban building project in The Netherlands. But the contamination in the soil first needed to be cleaned up before any construction could take place.

THE APPROACH: ARCADIS conducted a soil survey, drew up a decontamination plan and decontamination specifications and saw to the environmental supervision and management. The contamination initially concerned mineral oil, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and heavy metals from the former textile factory. It was discovered during the decontamination that the site also contained a large-scale asbestos contamination. This asbestos clean-up was carried out at the same time as the other decontamination of the soil. As explosives were also found during the execution of the clean-up, the E.O.D. (explosives clearance) was also called upon during the procedure. The decontamination took place in various phases during the course of preparing the site for building. The contamination of the groundwater is dealt with in 2 ways. The shallow groundwater is removed, purified and then discharged. The deeper groundwater is decontaminated by means of (forced) bio-degradation.

THE RESULT: A safe location to build new homes on, guaranteeing the health and safety of generations to come.
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