Within sight of Chesterfield’s famous crooked spire lies one of the most contaminated sites in Europe. now a Belgian consortium is set to tackle the many challenges its remediation poses and transform it into a multi-use facility for the local community.

The Avenue Coking works is one of the most contaminated sites in Europe, with two contaminated silt lagoons, a hazardous waste tip, groundwater pollution and hot spots to be dealt with before it can be redeveloped and brought back into use for the local community.

The site is in Derbyshire and comprises 98 hectares, formerly occupied by a chemical plant, coking works, by-products plant, rail sidings and a number of other ancillary industrial activities.

The remediation of the site is currently being designed and costed by preferred remediation contractor VSD Avenue, which is a consortium comprising of Volker Stevin, Sita Remediation and specialist Belgian environmental contractor DEC.

Regeneration agency English Partnerships is funding the reclamation through the National Coalfields Programme. The East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) owns the site and is acting as delivery agent for the project.

In 1992 the only remaining operating business on the Avenue site, the Coking Works, was closed down. “We effectively inherited an abandoned site,” says Selena Pearce, English Partnerships national programmes manager.

“The chemical tanks, pipework, sumps, gantries, waste tip and contaminated lagoons were left as they were.”

In 1999 a period of demolition started when the above ground structures and tanks were emptied and demolished. The site was razed but was left with a whole host of below-ground contamination problems.

“It will be a big and complicated clean-up, which is precisely why English Partnerships’ experience at other sites under the National Coalfields Programme will be so valuable,” says Pearce.

A planning application is currently being prepared and is likely to be submitted by VSD Avenue and their consultants Entec, to Derbyshire County Council in May.

The remediation of the site will create a 23-hectare development platform anticipated to provide high quality homes and employment space in the future.

The remaining three-quarters of the site will be cleaned up and returned to community use as public open spaces, sports pitches and a nature reserve providing high quality habitats for water voles, great crested newts, butterflies, bats and many other protected species of local flora and fauna.

The proposed landform includes a conical hill approximately 20 metres high at the northern end of the site which will afford views to the north of the much celebrated crooked spire of St Mary’s and All Saints Parish Church in the centre of Chesterfield. It is anticipated that the main site works to achieve this vision will take around four-and-a-half years and will be completed by the end of 2012.

Mike Fenton, Project Manager of site owner EMDA, says: “What we are trying to prevent here initially is the possibility that the soil and groundwater is still causing contamination to seep from the site and affect the local amenity.

“There are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, cyanides and a whole range of other by-products and waste chemicals which could potentially cause problems if we don’t act.”

One of the sensitive issues which contractor VSD Avenue has to take into account during the operational clean-up phase is the protection of the River Rother, which passes through the site.

The old waste tip actually sits on the floodplain of the river and there are also two huge sludge lagoons on either side of the river, which contain over 200,000 m2 of contaminated sediment and liquors.

“We have the best brains in the UK, Europe and the USA to help solve the problems at this site,” says Pearce

“In working together with EMDA and their consultants, Jacobs, as well as VSD Avenue, we believe we can and will solve these problems in an efficient and sustainable manner.”

VSD Avenue project director Marcus Foweather is not daunted by the challenge that lies ahead and is looking forward to deploying some exciting remediation technologies on what is one of the most complex civil engineering remediation schemes he has seen within the last ten years in the UK.

He says: “Few sites offer the challenges posed by this one, the wide range of different contaminants and material types call for a number of different remediation techniques to be used, there are space planning difficulties on this confined site, materials handling problems, a shortfall in soils and other unforeseen potential constraints.

“Obviously we will be operating within the recommendations of an environmental impact assessment, which will minimise the residual impact of the clean up on the surrounding area. Noise will be kept to a minimum, for example, with all vehicles being fitted with silencers, and excess dust will be managed by a dust suppression unit."

The two million cubic metre muckshift operation will include more than 200,000m2 of contaminated lagoon sludges requiring on site thermal treatment using a bespoke designed and constructed thermal unit to treat this unique material. Because of the high temperatures required, the plant is expected to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week for around two years.

More than 200,000m2 of lesser hydrocarbon contaminated material from the site will require on site treatment by bioremediation in two large aerated biobeds.

The operation will also involve sifting and sorting through the old licensed waste tip material, including an on site soil washing operation. A state-of-the-art water treatment facility will help to clean up the site, and the contractors will resculpt of the landform to create an attractive useable site giving amenity and attracting investment into the local community.

Foweather is confident that the VSD Avenue team working on the project has the necessary knowledge, innovation and experience to deliver the scheme objectives.

The job was procured using a modified Early Contractor Involvement contract. Mike Fenton of the EMDA says: “This procurement method ensured that we were able to identify and select VSD Avenue as a result of their innovative approach to the task and the value for money that their tender offered.

“The contractor is incentivised under this form of contract”, he continues. “There is a design bonus available within Stage 2 along with a pain-gain share mechanism on completion of the Stage 3 works which will be let under the NEC3 Option C Target Cost contract conditions.”

VSD Avenue project manager Rob Dalton is looking forward to starting site operations in earnest if Derby County Council’s planning permission is granted and VSD are awarded the Stage 3 contract. He is hopeful of a start on site later this year. So watch this space.

The operation to clean up the former coke works has demonstrated that there has been a shift in attitudes to former industrial sites in the 15 years since its closure. We no longer see land previously used for heavy industry as derelict and irretrievable. Rather, through brownfield regeneration projects such as at the Avenue site strive to create useful and valuable land once again that will have something positive to contribute to the local community.

If all goes according to the EMDS’s plans, the project at the Avenue will truly be “Paradise Regained”.

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