Environmental due diligence supports acquisition of 125ha site
Time sensitive ground investigation studies to support Ebbsfleet Development Corporation's (EDC) acquisition of a 125ha site in Ebbsfleet Garden City to support a significant housing allocation.
Our geo-environmental team delivered time sensitive ground investigation studies in summer 2019 to enable Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) to acquire a 125ha site in Ebbsfleet Garden City.
EDC, an arm’s length body of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, purchased the brownfield site from a Landsec and Ebbsfleet Property joint venture with the ambition to create Ebbsfleet Central, a major new commercial and residential centre at the heart of Ebbsfleet Garden City.
There are currently over 1,700 homes in the garden city with around 4,000 residents. This new centre situated around Ebbsfleet International will deliver a significant proportion of the c.15,000 new homes proposed within the Ebbsfleet Garden City development.
Working with Avison Young, who advised on the overall development appraisal, we were appointed to inform the acquisition due diligence process by analysing the risks presented by the industrial legacy of the site, which included a landfill.
Our geo-environmental team initially undertook a desk-based study to validate assumptions made from previous, historic, site appraisals. Our role then evolved into a time sensitive site investigation based on strategically placed trial pits to inform the investment decision.
The site has been subject to a number of historical uses both on, and adjacent to the site. These, coupled with near surface chalk that has resulted in a considerable amount of chalk extraction, and on and off-site quarries backfilled with a range of materials, resulted in our comprehensive investigation into site conditions to support the site acquisition which was ultimately concluded in the autumn of 2019.
