HPC AG ~ Hüls AG in Bottrop

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Hüls AG in Bottrop

Contaminated Site Exploration, Dismanting.

Bottrop
On an area as big as 50 football pitches a chemical factory is located. It has served its time and it's no longer used. The Hüls AG intends to shout down the site. Is it to be left to its fate? That's out of the question. 50 football pitches could be built on it - it is big enough after all ... No - a different solution has to be found.

Mining and industry have used the area many decades. Presumably, the basement soil and the older structural fabric are contaminated in part. So the site has to be remediated. Hüls gets in touch with the city of Bottrop. A combined residential and industrial park would fit this town very well. Costs can be saved if remediation is effected parallel to reconstruction, resulting in a shorter construction period, less material involved and enhanced demands. Who can deliver? Sounds like a job for HPC ...

In our function as general planner we lay down the sequence of work and draw up a specification of the techniques that are to be applied in all details. But for all our love of details we must keep sight of what is most important: to think economically. We intend to reuse mineral waste products from the demolition process as filler. In the holes resulting from the excavation of contaminated soil, basement foundations can be erected. In a large contaminated area we penetrate deep into the ground-water table. This is a tricky situation. Simply removing the excavation material seems to be the obvious thing to do, of course, but maybe we can find a cheaper solution. Sealing walls insulates the area. Material from all other areas that has to be disposed of is added. Not a single truck has to leave the building site. After the landfill has finally been sealed the residential and industrial park green can be created on top of it.

Summary:

Exploration
Taking into consideration how the site is to be used in future is a prerequisite for economically sound remediation. After all, soil contamination limits depend on its utilization. Accordingly, the soil contamination level is what we determine first. We perform 550 exploratory drillings distributed over the whole site and at different depths, adding 50 ground-water test points. Then we prepare a detailed account of existing buildings and facilities.

Evaluation
All these samples have to be evaluated. We carry out several thousand chemical analyses. Subsequent projections deliver the exact contamination level: a soil volume of 1.500.000 cubic metres must be transposed.

Remediation Concept
Now that we have got key data on the scale of the project we can answer our questions. Here we constantly coordinate our plans with the city authorities and the customer. We keep scrutinizing our ideas, make up a schedule, do some optimisation here and there and finally lift our hands for the starting signal.

Approval Management
We submit the plans to the responsible authorities for approval. Now and then some details have to be renegotiated or receive a touch-up. We seek appropriate companies for the implementation of the work. Europe-wide.

Public Relations
If neighbouring residents are affected by the construction and remediation measures, as is the case in Bottrop, we inform them on the planned procedure by press releases or information leaflets or meetings. An open, offensive information policy helps take residents' reservations seriously at an early stage and helps relieve their worries. The acceptance we gain through this strategy promotes a smooth implementation of the project.

Demolition
HPC is in charge of site management and makes sure that the plans are implemented correctly. The material resulting from the demolition of the old factory buildings (250,000 m³ of solid matter) are either separately disposed of or are recycled to be used as building material.

Soil Removal
The contaminated soil volume is distributed over several small and one large area. The excavation material is deposited on the particularly large area.