Morning: Tuesday 2nd February

 

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10.00 Welcome from Environment Analyst

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10.05 Opening Remarks from the Chair

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10.10 Ensuring Environmental Protection & Governance in Scotland Post-Brexit

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• Examining the key environmental legal principles that have been transposed into Scottish Law via the Continuity Bill

• Outlining the role and objectives of the new Environmental Standards Scotland:

  • progress towards its establishment as a statutory organisation and development of statutory powers

  • detailing how it will oversee environmental protection standards and governance

• Assessing the future direction of environmental regulation in Scotland

 

Prof Colin T. Reid, Professor of Environmental Law, University of Dundee

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10.30 Q&A

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10.35 Case Study: Clyde Gateway

 

Martin McKay, Executive Director of Regeneration, Clyde Gateway

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10.55 Q&A

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11.00 Designing an Appropriate Sampling & Analysis Strategy to Achieve Optimum Cost-Efficiency

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• Is it too early to involve the lab? Simple answer - NO!

• Providing clear information on the drivers for testing:

  • how this can affect the type of testing and shape the output

  • fit for purpose analysis

• Combining services and looking at what else the lab can do

• Location and how this may affect your options

• Consultancy vs experience

 

​Will Fardon, Senior Technical Manager, i2 Analytical

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11.20  Exploring the Benefits of Abandoned Coal Mines in Delivering Sustainable Urban Developments

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• The flooding of disused mine-workings beneath the ground of 25% of the UK’s population provides significant development opportunities

• Mine workings have the potential to make a major contribution to the UK’s resilience challenges around climate change, flooding, water supply and land remediation

• Abandoned mines offer an exciting solution to developers in a future where there will be no gas heating permitted on new builds from 2025, providing access to an energy source that competes with gas on price but at a fraction of the carbon footprint

 

Find out more about geothermal energy, use of water for cooling and storage of waste and renewable energy inter-seasonally. Supporting the UK Government’s sustainability objectives and providing economic, social and environmental benefits to developers.

 

Dr Charlotte Adams, Commercial Manager, The Coal Authority 

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11:40 Q&A

 

 

12:00 Session Close

 

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Afternoon: Tuesday 2nd February

 

Optimising the Role of Brownfield in Meeting Scotland’s Housing Targets within Changing Planning and Green (Net Zero) Frameworks

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13.30 Welcome Back from the Afternoon Chair:

 

Shona Glenn, Head of Policy & Research, Scottish Land Commission

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13.35 Exploring What the Changes to Planning Frameworks Mean for Brownfield Land Development

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• Outlining the current status of the new Scottish Planning Act and National Planning Framework (NPF4)

  • details of the interim position statement

  • implications of recent delays to the Draft NPF4 on local development planning

• Exploring the role of brownfield land in new planning frameworks - is more being done to ensure it is considered in new development?

• Outlining the development of Regional Land Use Partnerships; their role and function and how they can help deliver Scotland’s ambitions on climate change and net zero and support a green recovery

• What do proposed changes mean for Local Council Planning, Environmental Health & Contaminated Land Officers, and their consultants & contractors?

 

Craig McLaren, Director of Scotland & Ireland, Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)​

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13.55 Next Steps to Delivering Scotland’s Approach to Transforming Vacant and Derelict Land

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• Outlining the key recommendations put to the Scottish Government by the Vacant & Derelict Land Taskforce

• Detailing the role of the Green Action Trust in supporting the delivery of the transformation of Scotland’s vacant and derelict land

• reforming the vacant and derelict land register

• working with site owners to develop productive green uses for vacant and derelict sites

• tackling DUSTEs – Identifying potential opportunities to “unlock” Scotland’s most problematic and “stuck” sites

• Where does contaminated and derelict land sit within sustainable place-making and Scotland’s national well-being agenda?

 

Deryck Irving, Director of Strategy and Development, Green Action Trust

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14.15 Q&A

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14.45 Face-to-Face Roundtable Discussions

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Using our innovative virtual face-to-face networking platform Remo, this session will give you the opportunity to discuss a key topic of interest to you face-to-face with others in a more participative format. Each session will be led by a facilitator who will lead the discussion and encourage maximum debate and sharing of ideas.

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Roundtable Topics:

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• Attracting New Talent & Future-Proofing Your Skills Capability

• Improving the Quality of Site Data & Reports

• Optimising Digital Innovations to Achieve Cost Savings, Efficiencies and Added-Value Insights

• Partnering & Collaboration: Getting the best out of the Client - Consultant- Contractor Relationship

• Working towards a Circular Economy Approach in Brownfield & Infrastructure Development

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16.00 Close of Session

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Morning: Wednesday 3rd February

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10.00 Welcome Back

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10.05 Opening Remarks from the Chair:

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Dr Joanna Wilding, Associate Technical Director, RSK Group

 

10.10 Updated Good Practice Guidance on Mine Gas Risk Assessment

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Following the recommendations arising from the Gorebridge incident, a technical guide has been prepared detailing Good Practice for Risk Assessment for Mine Gas Emissions. This presentation will report on the findings of the recent public consultation and key aspects of the soon to be published technical advice on better understanding mine gas risk assessment.

 

Steve Wilson, Technical Director, The Environmental Protection Group Ltd (EPG)

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10.30 Risk Assessment and Specifying Protective Measures for Social Housing Developments

 

• Exploring how to take account of Scotland’s particular geology and the particular challenges this presents

• Setting out learning from recent ground gas and mine gas incidents

• Explaining how to tailor ground gas monitoring and risk assessment to actual levels of risk present

• Considering how to incorporate expertise and local knowledge into designing, specifying, installing and verifying gas protection measures

 

Matt Askin, Manager, GGS

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10.50 Q&A

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11:00 Face-to-Face Discussion Session in our virtual Conference & Exhibition Lounge 

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Continue the discussion and informally network with other attendees in our face-to-face interactive conference and exhibition lounge 

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11.40 Achieving Better Assessment of Environmental and Geotechnical Risks to Improve Land Use and Development Decisions

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There is a huge amount of information available to help with land use and development decisions, in many different formats and of varying degrees of quality.  Groundsure Insight Reports can turn mapping and environmental data into usable location intelligence to enable you to make better, more informed decisions.

 

This presentation will outline the unique features of the Groundsure Insight Reports and how they benefit you, as well as providing an overview of our GIS offering and an introduction to the groundsure.io - our free, online data viewer.

 

Aga Wieczorkiewicz, Business Development Manager, Groundsure

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12.00 Case Study: Effectively Communicating Land Contamination Risks & Engaging with Community Stakeholders to Achieve Successful Project Completion

 

• Examining key principles of good practice in risk communication drawing on the SNIFFER publication and other relevant guidance

• Developing an effective risk communication strategy

• Outlining how site investigation and risk assessment outputs feed into effective risk communication

• Case Study of putting this into practice on the Buchanan St. Ambrose Schools public enquiry, which won the 2021 Brownfield Award for Best Public Engagement

 

Dr Tom Henman, Director - Geosciences, RSK & Deputy Chair, SiLC PTP

 

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12.20 Q&A

 

12.35 Close of Session

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Afternoon: Wednesday 3rd February

 

13.30 Welcome Back - Discuss the Morning’s Topics, Put Your Questions to the Speakers, and Catch Up with Industry Colleagues

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 In our interactive face-to-face conference and exhibition lounge 

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Dr Joanna Wilding, Associate Technical Director, RSK Group

 

Spotlight on Innovative Remediation Solutions

 

14.15 Hydrous Ferric Oxide – A New Solution from Coal Mining for the Remediation of Heavy Metals

 

Hydrous Ferric Oxide (HFO) is produced from the treatment of water issuing from old mining operations. The Coal Authority operates a number of mine water treatment schemes in the UK to help create a better future for people and the environment in mining areas. HFO is generated at these sites. Through our innovation programme, a number of commercial uses for HFO have been found, one of these being its use in mixes suitable for the treatment of land contaminated by metals.

 

This presentation will cover:

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• The source of HFO and some characterisation of its physical and mineral nature

• The chemical sorption characteristics of HFO which may be used to support mix designs

• Laboratory investigation of sorption and development of geochemical modelling

• How HFO was provided for use in a scheme for the treatment of 9,000 m3 of contaminated soil

 

Jon Aumônier, Project Manager, Innovation, The Coal Authority

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14.35 Effectively Managing the Risks from PFAS

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• Understanding the (real) risk

• Prevention is better than cure

• Risk management today

• Risk management tomorrow

• Identifying what is the next emerging contaminant

 

Prof. Dr Paul Nathanail, Technical Director Contamination Assessment and Remediation, GHD

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14.55 Q&A

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15.10 Closing Remarks and Close of Conference 

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