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ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS SAVING MILLIONS
TRACE Environmental is a multidiscipline environmental consulting company and are experts in onsite contamination investigation, assessment and remediation. The team’s unrivalled knowledge and expertise helps highdensity residential redevelopments, large commercial redevelopments and government infrastructure projects get approved and constructed. Leading Australian Real Estate Fund Management Business, EG Funds Management (EG), recently contracted TRACE to devise a strategy for the proposed Northern Beaches Business Park site in Cromer (NSW). EG purchased the former pharmaceutical plant and faced a significant challenge before development could begin. While responsibility for remediation remained primarily with the vendor, construction could not commence until sufficient remediation had been completed. However, the vendor’s remediation schedule did not align with EG’s development program, putting planned construction at risk of significant delays. “Partnering with TRACE enabled us to get construction underway while the vendor’s remediation works were still ongoing” said EG Development Director, Grant Flannigan. “Their innovative strategy, and ability to quickly satisfy the site auditor’s requirements, helped avoid detrimental cost and time blow-outs.” EG has a strong commitment to best practice Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management, responsible investing, and optimising the environmental 22
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performance of assets under management and development. “We have exclusively used TRACE for our national environmental studies carrying out Due Diligence during acquisition and project delivery. This relationship has existed over a number of years as they have a pragmatic approach and are leaders in current best practice. TRACE has been proven to be a cost effective, reliable and professional group who perform at a high level of expertise,” said Grant. Among other iconic projects that TRACE has been involved in, is Sekisui House’s West Village development in Brisbane. “The project has gone on to win over 50 industry awards for excellence and it is very rewarding to have played a role in its success,” said TRACE Co-Director, Tony Nakhoul. TRACE undertook various stages of investigation at the 2.6Ha West Village site, formerly the Peters Ice Cream Factory, to investigate contaminated fill and potential acid sulfate soils. As a result, the team implemented a cost-saving remediation strategy, managed the required validation works, and prepared a Site Validation Report that was reviewed and endorsed by an Environmental Auditor, seeing the site removed from the QLD Environmental Management Register (EMR), with no ongoing environmental management measures required. “Being involved early on in a project means we can create opportunities, solutions, and outcomes for our clients that are simply not
possible, or achievable to a lesser degree, at later stages of development, often saving clients millions of dollars in costs and avoiding time delays,” shared TRACE Co-Director, Andrew Kita. The TRACE team’s role in the Melrose Park Urban Renewal project in NSW is an optimal example of early involvement success. Being engaged from the Council development application process on this project enabled TRACE to deliver a remedial strategy that was estimated to achieve over $30 million in reduced remediation costs and more than 90% of fill material made suitable for on-site reuse. “We put together a highly specialised team for every single project who tailor-make sitespecific strategic solutions to get things done quickly and efficiently. Having a deep working knowledge of site contamination and years of project management experience allows our team to create maximum time, money and resource savings, while continuously meeting the standards, and regulations associated with each project,” said Andrew. “Our mission is to maximise a site’s potential in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way possible through creating and delivering environmental solutions that benefit our clients, the natural environment, and the wider community.” For more information contact TRACE Environmental, phone 1300 TRACE 0 (1300 872 230), email enquiries@traceenviro.com, website www.traceenviro.com AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION REVIEW