Remediation of Land and Groundwater

The EIA Remediation of Land and Groundwater working group is one of EIAs leading policy and regulatory groups. It represents a very broad spectrum of contamination specialists and technical experts from toxicologists, to remediation consultants and contractors, from legal professionals to tax specialists. Our meetings always attempt to invite a guest speaker on an issue which is impacting on the wider sector. Our meetings cover both strategic policy issues as well as technical scientific regulatory issues. All members are able to raise issues onto the agenda with actions collectively agreed by the Members.

The Group meets 4 times a year in person to allow networking. Members are permitted to invite guests via agreement of the secretariat. The working group primarily focuses on the remediation of contaminated land sites or complex brownfield sites seeking remediation before development. Our Members work closely with DEFRA, Environment Agency and developers who are seeking to clean up sites which have complex environmental constraints. We also get regular updates from other related organisations such as the National Brownfield Forum.

Current issues being discussed:

  • National Planning Policy Framework and implications on Brownfield vs Grey belt development
  • Definition of Brownfield development
  • Permit delays and inconsistency in decision making by Environment Agency
  • Asbestos in soil
  • Coal Tar remediation
  • Oil spills remediation and hydrocarbons
  • Radon Gas awareness and mitigation
  • Category 4 screening levels
  • Wider soil policy

Chair of the Environmental Industries Association (EIA) and Chair of the EIA Remediation of Land and Groundwater Working Group

Peter Atchison

A degree qualified engineer and fellow of the Chartered Association of Building engineers with over 40 years’ experience in environmental aspects of Construction and Civil engineering; Peter has experience of the manufacturing, contracting and consultancy sectors worldwide.

Peter has always been involved with standards setting and supporting guidance in the sector.  He sat on the steering groups for the PIT report in 2000 as well as BRE 414.  He was on the steering group for numerous CIRIA documents including C665 & C735 and chaired the Technical Committee, which produced BS8485. More recently Peter has co-produced the latest revision of BR211 radon document.

Peter is an active participant in the following industry groups:

  • Confederation of Construction Specialists – Chair
  • UK Radon Council – Committee member / director, previous chair for >5 years
  • British Geomembrane Association (BGA) – Committee member / director and Treasurer
  • B553 – British Standards technical committee (BSI) for geomembranes - Committee member
  • CEN / TC189 – UK nominated geomembrane expert
  • ISO TC221 – Geosynthetics Chair

Working worldwide, Peter is currently involved in several of the environmental & sustainability challenges facing the construction sector.

Date of next meeting: 6th November 2024
Deputy Chair: TBC