Why the Government needs Brown

Brownfield regeneration remains key to the Government’s plan for creating sustainable communities, with as much as a third of the 66,000 ha of brownfield land identified by the National Land Use Database readily available for development. However, crucial to brownfield regeneration is the issue of restoring the land to a high quality as quickly and cost effectively as possible. As the largest client of the construction industry, Government has the potential to be a powerful force in helping the sector achieve UK sustainable development objectives and take a leadership role in brownfield regeneration.

Sustainable regeneration methods
Traditionally, developers of brownfield projects have often chosen to import topsoil onto sites, disposing of subsoils and wastes to landfill, which can be financially and environmentally expensive. WRAP has been working with partners to investigate methods for creating and improving the quality of topsoils on-site, which are both cost effective and sustainable.

When used in the manufacture of topsoil, high quality PAS 100:2005 compost can help create ideal conditions for plant growth. If the soil regeneration process is carried out in situ, using existing uncontaminated subsoils/mineral residues and locally sourced quality compost, both the need for, and costs of importing new topsoil can be significantly reduced.

It sounds like the perfect, sustainable solution, but it can prove difficult to convince developers who may be unfamiliar with the options for using recycled products, such as quality compost. The Government can aid this process by encouraging the specification of a minimum recycled content in tender documents and WRAP is well placed to help developers do this.  

Making financial and environmental sense
Specifying recycled materials, such as quality compost, not only makes environmental sense, it can also help improve the bottom line on regeneration projects. Previous trials conducted in conjunction with WRAP have shown that using quality PAS 100:2005 compost to manufacture topsoil, not only helps create a soil with improved nutrient content, moisture retention and plant growth potential, it can also help developers significantly improve the project’s profit margin. In some cases, costs have been reduced by 50 per cent.

WRAP is now in the process of working with partners on a series of trailblazer projects, to fully investigate the financial and environmental benefits of specifying and using locally sourced high quality compost in brownfield restoration. 

The regeneration of Stirling’s suburb of Raploch is a good example of this. Previous demolition works at Raploch have left areas of the site covered with a thin layer of reclaimed, poor quality soil. To ensure that soils for domestic gardens and communal backyards are of high enough quality, the experimental study will use up to 250 tonnes of BSI PAS 100:2005 compost to examine the feasibility of improving existing soil resources.

The regeneration of Raploch is being undertaken by Stirling Council, Raploch Urban Regeneration Company, the R3 consortium (made up of Cruden Homes (East) Ltd and George Wimpey East Scotland Ltd) and the Raploch Community Enterprise. The partners decided that they wanted to regenerate the land in a sustainable and cost effective way, which would help them avoid removing the low quality topsoil and subsoils from the site, and importing new topsoil.

Safe, consistent and reliable
Yet while the benefits may be numerous, developers still need reassurance that when they specify compost they will be using a product that has been consistently manufactured to a high quality. The BSI PAS 100 certification scheme provides this level of security so customers can be confident that the compost is safe, consistent, reliable and sustainable.

As with all market-driven industries, supply is linked to demand. But with increased support from the Government in guiding developers to specify recycled products such as compost for brownfield projects, combined with the increased recycling of municipal organic waste, the supply of quality PAS 100:2005 compost has the potential to meet current and future demands.