This high profile, award winning project encompassed careful remediation of a former World War II fuel bunker pit containing general rubbish, car bodies, banned pesticides and herbicides, and suspected un-exploded ordinates (UXOs). Without careful and methodical planning and micro-management this project could have easily been fraught with problems, not only health, safety and environmental, but also in terms of cost and programme.

The Bankside site is located approximately 60km south of Christchurch, just before the town of Rakaia. The bunker was one of five built in the early 1940s to store fuel in case war broke out in New Zealand. The 25m diameter x 10m deep pit had been an illegal dumping site for the last 40 years, and as a result the soil material in the pit had become contaminated by mainly pesticide and herbicide residues as well as heavy metals.

Hawkins initiated comprehensive consultation with a number of stakeholders that included liaising with neighbours, planning a media open day, briefing emergency services and establishing detour contingencies with NZTA for the main south highway that was close to the border of the site.

The first phase of the project saw the careful removal and separation of waste from the pit. A 25m x 25m concrete processing pad was the only place where contaminated waste was allowed to be processed and managed prior to being loaded out either direct to landfill (i.e. general waste) or for further processing in Christchurch (i.e. triple washing of drums/ containers). The processing pad was fitted with a water collection pit where wastewater was removed from site and taken for further processing.

When the majority of the drums/other waste materials were removed, a carefully planned and resourced UXO survey was undertaken by a specialised munitions expert. Once it was determined that the pit was clear of UXOs, an excavator was lowered into the pit to undertake further extraction of waste. Considerable care was made in protecting all workers during the excavation process across a wide range of possible hazards and accidents.

All waste products were removed from the pit on time, and the project was approx $600k under budget, even though special precautions were taken and additional safety initiatives introduced during the contract works. Specific attention was given to hazardous substances and new organisms and persistent organic pollutants management due to unknowns within the pit.

No UXOs were found apart from three spent shotgun cartridges. Intractable (banned pesticides) wastes were found and handled with extreme care. These wastes were shipped to France for incineration under the NZ Environmental Risk Management Authority and international Stockholm and Basel Convention rules, as they are unable to be disposed of to New Zealand landfills.

Health, safety and environmental methodologies were prepared for each task to ensure all risks were appropriately completed for each separate phase and to ensure any real or potential risks were avoided. All staff had to undertake hazardous material handling and wear protective clothing, forced air respirators and personal monitors. The air monitoring equipment around the site was the most comprehensive system ever used in New Zealand.

The project commenced in March 2009 and was completed in September 2009 and was completed without injury and without any environmental incidents.