The site met compliance for commercial land, successfully paving the way for new mixed-use commercial and residential development.
Overview
Wesgroup Properties owns and manages over 2.5 million square feet of commercial property and has developed more than 6,500 homes in 85 residential communities across Metro Vancouver. Since 2009, Ausenco has worked on over 40 sites, providing a broad range of services including due diligence reviews, Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs), Remedial Action Plans (RAPs), remediation, oversight of building demolition and hazardous material abatement, risk assessments, review of purchase and sale agreements, and provision of expert litigation support to counsel.
Approach
Ausenco has conducted various investigation activities including Stage 1 and 2 Preliminary Site Investigations, detailed site investigations, and remedial work at a group of four former downstream service stations. The initial phase of this site assessment and remediation work involved completing a RAP detailing issues, risks, strategies, timeframe, and costs associated with remediating hydrocarbon and metals-contaminated soil and groundwater. The RAP report included viable remedial strategies along with costs and schedules to obtain closure for the sites to facilitate redevelopment. At one site, the remedial plan included excavation and disposal of source material, risk assessment, and installation of an engineered barrier to prohibit the migration of risk-managed off-site contamination back onto the property. The site met compliance for commercial land, successfully paving the way for new mixed-use commercial and residential development. Multiple ministry branches and stakeholders were involved and consulted on the project. We leveraged our working relationship with the regulators to aid in helping the project meet its key project milestones.
Results
Delivery of these services required a quick and accurate response time with a sound understanding of the client’s needs and business drivers. Ausenco has obtained numerous provincial ministry releases to support the development of various contaminated sites acquired by Wesgroup. We have assisted Wesgroup in reviewing their portfolio of properties including a baseline assessment, identification of risks, assessment of tenant operations, as well as a proactive approach to risk management for the short- and long-term management of environmental liabilities associated with property assets.