National Honour
Publish Date: 23 November 2011
McMahon Services’ $2.5 million remediation of Housing SA’s Birkenhead site has taken out a prestigious prize at this year’s Civil Contractors Federation National Earth Awards.
The removal and treatment of high level contaminated waste from the 15,000 square metre Mead Street location was an Australian first and won the Category 2 award for civil construction projects valued between $1 million and $5 million.
South Australian based McMahon Services along with project partners Integrated Waste Services and Ziltek were recognised for their expert management of high-level contaminated soils and groundwater, while also addressing the concerns of the community and numerous government agencies.
McMahon Services’ Scott Trenerry said they were thrilled to win the award amongst a strong field of finalists from around the country. “Our experienced remediation team used innovation and world’s best practice techniques to deliver an outstanding result for the client.” Scott said.
“We overcame a variety of challenges to transform a former industrial site into a safe area that the community can benefit from. “It’s exciting to know that methods developed for this remediation project can now be successfully applied to other locations around the country and the world.”
The Birkenhead remediation project included demolition and removal of all previous site improvements and the excavation and disposal of 6000 tonnes of contaminated soils, and 2000 tonnes of high level contaminated waste soils.
A key feature of the remediation project was the use of Australia’s first Multiple Waste Treatment (MWT) facility capable of treating high-level contaminated waste. Located at Dublin, the facility was developed in partnership with a local waste management organisation and has set a benchmark for future projects. The treatment process involved adding a chemical fixation reagent, provided by Ziltek, and the use a Komatsu Reterra - one of only a handful of soil blending machines in Australia. The once high level contaminated soil was then re-classified as low level contaminated waste and disposed of appropriately.
