Remediation Case Studies / London E14 - Industrialised Site Adjacent to Former Gasworks

This site was adjacent to a former gasworks and itself a former chemical works. It is located alongside the Limehouse Cut in the Tower Hamlets area of the east end of London. Part of a heavily industrialised local area, it suffered heavy bombing in World War II. Most recent use was a paperboard mill. The site had previously been surrounded by chemical industries most notably a sulphuric acid works, a radium works and three separate coal tar processing works. Over ground tanks remained on site and further underground tanks had been removed sometime earlier. The proposed construction of a fifteen storey mixed use building with basement parking and underground plant would involve the removal of in excess of 20,000m3 of material.

Heavy metals, PAH, fuel hydrocarbons, asbestos, VOC, sulphates, sulphides, chlorinated hydrocarbons, coal tars, phenols, pesticides, acids, cyanides, solvents, radium and radon had all been identified from both on and off site sources. Bore holes revealed quantities of a blue stained malodorous material found to contain high levels of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, the principal constituent of coal tar. Asbestos containing material was also found in the made ground together with heavy contamination with arsenic and lead

Due to project timescales, oxidisation is utilised to maximise the volume of bioremediated material, although treatment of all coal tar would prove difficult in the time allowed. Careful segregation of soil strata, further screening and bioremediation will ensure that off site disposal costs are minimised. A similar process of segregation and screening is adopted in relation to heavy metal contamination. Oversize material and gravel should prove viable for recycling. Remaining material is tested and then, dependent on results and feasibility, promptly removed or stabilised with cement/lime prior to disposal.

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