former steel works

newport

outline

BIOGENIE Remediation UK Limited was appointed by our client to design, construct and operate a surface water treatment system to treat contaminated surface water exiting a development site on a former steelworks in Newport, Wales.

The wider site was undergoing enabling earthworks and remediation works to facilitate a residential and commercial development and was being drained by a network of surface water reens which discharged to the adjacent third-party site’s private sewer. An agreement had been reached between St Modwen and the adjacent site owner to allow the discharge to continue based on treatment of the surface water to specified standards.

approach

BIOGENIE UK designed and installed a fully automated and remotely monitored system, that had the capability to treat hydrocarbons, suspended solids, dissolved metals and adjust pH at a flow rate of up to 70 m³/h.

Challenge

The system had to be capable of treating a wide variety of contaminants to very low discharge criteria, often matching drinking water standards for contaminants such as arsenic, copper and zinc. Additionally, the system had to accommodate inconsistent input water quality and flow rate. Therefore, designing system adaptability was key to successful treatment. The system also had to be constructed to a tight programme and budget on a busy development site.

Risk was managed by:

The innovative water treatment solution designed and built by BIOGENIE UK involves a multi-stage approach with optional treatment stages automatically activated based on real-time monitoring of incoming water quality. Parameters monitored in the incoming water include turbidity, pH and electrical conductivity. Optional treatment stages, including metals precipitation and ion-exchange are automatically brought on-line based on the monitoring of the incoming water, as opposed to full-time operation of the complete system. This had a significant positive impact on cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the system by reducing dosing chemical consumption and the consumption rate of high value media such as ion-exchange resin.

The system was installed on programme and to budget, despite challenging site constraints and the high complexity of the build, leading to timely completion of the Design & Build contract and execution of the Operation & Maintenance phase. This allowed the main construction programme to continue without delay, thereby facilitating the ongoing redevelopment of contaminated areas of the site.

Impact

Once completed, the development will deliver 4,000 high quality new homes along with the creation of Celtic Business Park which will create around 2,000 new jobs. The development and works form part of a wider £1bn project transforming the 240ha former Newport Steelworks site into a major new community for South Wales.