Masters Site Remediation, Penrith

Situation: Masters amalgamated 10 individual commercial and industrial lots on Mulgoa Road as the site for the company’s new Penrith store. With previous land used including a fuel depot, bus depot, car dealership, market garden and brick pit, the site presented a range of environmental and geotechnical challenges.

Actions: Geo-Logix worked with Masters to find and implement compliant solutions that were also commercially viable. They provided a range of services including:

• Conducting environmental due diligence assessments
• Conducting detailed groundwater and soil vapour modelling to determine whether petroleum contamination presented an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. (Council accepted the study findings that no unacceptable risk was present and fast-tracked the project through planning.)
• Assessing contamination and stability of the former brick pit and devising a cost-effective solution for improving ground conditions
• Capping former brick pit excavations with a geo-grid – that will be covered by the store car park – and conducting geotechnical tests to ensure capped waste complied with design standards
• Developing and registering an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the site defining the location and containment of the waste
• Crushing and processing (onsite) recyclable materials from former land use
• Remediating petroleum-contaminated soil onsite
• Disposing of small volumes of liquid waste and asbestos offsite

Results: In just two years, Geo-Logix helped transform four hectares of contaminated and unstable land into a prime real estate site for the Masters Penrith store.