There is a desperate need to unlock brownfield land for development to create more new homes in the UK. Furthermore, the more brownfield land that can be unlocked, less green belt land is required for development. Yet a significant amount of brownfield land is wrongly dismissed as unsuitable for development due to either the level of contamination, because remediation is deemed to be too costly, or rendering the land is considered commercially unviable. As a result of these circumstances this land is destined to remain unused and an unsightly wasteland. Yet, this does not always have to be the case. A significant level of decision making is often based on uninformed assumptions, perhaps due to the parties either not having taken any advice or receiving inadequate advice. We believe that with greater solution-based, innovative, forensic, analytical and thorough geo-environmental advice and support significantly more brownfield land can be unlocked and made commercially viable for development. In the last 3 years LK Group has used this approach to unlock over 1900 hectares of brownfield land (equivalent to over 4,600 football pitches). Our key challenge is to help to educate, inform and engage early with our clients on this highly technical service, so they can get the best out of the geo-environmental service and afford a piece of land every opportunity to be considered commercially viable for development.

Key achievements

• Unlocking Valuable brownfield land for development The LK approach has helped to make viable over 1900 hectares of brownfield land for development over the last 3 years, Our approach to complex sites is holistic. We harness and apply the pooled knowledge and expertise of our multi-disciplinary team to utilise all previous data to develop a more robust site investigation and enable a more realistic risk assessment to be undertaken which can have a significant positive impact on both programme and cost. Our approach has helped to create more houses, reduce the pressure on green belt take up, prevent thousands of tonnes of unnecessary contaminated soil disposal, introduced intelligent site remediation and enabled the transformation of unsightly and redundant industrial wastelands to attractive urban and rural environments. We also make projects more commercially viable by reducing or eliminating their below ground risks, e.g. we provide highly comprehensive site investigations with free earthworks modelling and all- risk lump sum remediation proposals.
• Encouraging Hard to reach People into our industry Over 42% of the LK workforce are women. Within the construction industry, women only represent a meagre 12% of workers. Research also indicates we need 100,000 more engineers, scientists and technologists coming through every year just to replace those leaving these professions. If we are going to meet this skills gap and see the next generation fulfil their potential, we need to get young people, and especially girls, on board much earlier. LK are at the forefront of both these important issues. We look for and nurture the best talent in all areas of geo environmental consultancy. Our effective engagement with schools, colleges and universities, as well as our reputation for looking after the welfare and professional development of our staff, has helped us to attract a wide range of people to join our company, especially women.
• Decision Making is vital in making good development decisions and minimising commercial risks to clients. The LK Group help to make our clients and development delivery partners become better informed In 2019, we conducted 17 CPD sessions with clients and the wider project team members These were attended by almost 200 people. The events covered relevant including: Contaminated Land, Geotechnical, Suds and Flood Risk, Material Planning, Land Remediation, Invasive Species. These CPD’s have helped to produce more educated and informed clients and partners in this highly technical field, thus helping them to secure better outcomes and undertake better procurement.