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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

Greater efficiency

In recent years, the EPA has promoted a triad approach to site investigation to maximize efficiency and minimize costs. The three-pronged process consists of systematic planning, a dynamic work plan, and on-site analytical tools. Taken together, these approaches generate a more streamlined process that has reduced the costs associated with brownfield investigations. Explains Dan Powell of EPA’s Brownfields Technology Support Center (www.clu-in.org/brownfieldstsc), “With the triad approach, you are continually adjusting your strategy in response to data you are finding in the field, rather than collecting a batch of data and waiting for results to come back before going back to collect more.” This method also allows for a more efficient—and therefore more cost-effective—cleanup: By pinpointing the exact location of contamination, the remediation strategies can be targeted to those areas, rather than the entire site.

 

Plans for the Cottonbelt project in St. Louis call for conversion of the abandoned industrial riverfront site (above) into housing and commercial/retail space (below). Photography: © Dan Hellmuth

Over the years, EPA has fine-tuned its cleanup goals as well. At one time it was assumed that an entire site would have to be returned to a pristine condition. But now the agency encourages remediation to follow projected reuse. “Although it can be done, it’s very expensive to clean up a site for 24/7 so that kids can eat the soil,” explains Donald Watson, FAIA, of Trumbull, Connecticut, who provides facilitation and design services for brownfield redevelopment projects. Now the level of cleanup is related to the level of risk.