REBECCA McKELLAR is a senior geo-environmental scientist at LK Associates, a division of environmental consultancy LK Group. When she’s not taking samples of soil and water for contamination testing, Rebecca spends her time renovating her house, swimming and practising yoga.
She joined LK Group in October, 2003. Prior to this, she was studying for a Master of Enterprise in Environmental Innovation. This was her working day.
8am: I like to arrive in the office early to give myself plenty of time to check my emails, respond to customer enquiries and collect any laboratory results from previous site investigations.
8:45am: It is time to get ready for a site investigation in Wavertree. Today I am inspecting a site that was formerly home to a vehicle repair garage and is proposed for residential redevelopment. Before planning permission can be granted for any brownfield site, the land needs to be tested for contaminants. If any are identified, a risk assessment must be completed and appropriate action taken to make the site fit for purpose. It is possible that substances such as engine coolants and motor oil may have leaked and polluted the land when the site was used as a garage. I get together my sample jars, gloves and cool boxes in order to take appropriate samples during the site investigation.
9:30am: I meet a JCB with driver at the site, and supervise the digging of trial pits during the site investigation. I take a variety of soil samples from the ground and make records of the ground conditions. The samples will be stored and transported in cool boxes to our laboratories for chemical analysis.
11:45am: Having completed the first part of the investigation, I’ll be returning next week to carry out the second phase. This will involve drilling a series of bore holes between five and 10 metres deep to obtain more soil samples, water samples and conduct geotechnical testing to facilitate foundation design. All of these findings will be used to produce a report outlining what action needs to be taken to bring the site up to regulatory standard for residential development. I head to the office, grabbing a sandwich on the way.
12:15pm: We have just been instructed to undertake a Phase One Preliminary Risk Assessment of a site in Bootle. A commercial development is planned for the site and we need to determine whether there is any contaminant risk from the site’s previous land use and surrounding area. Site maps, coal authority, local authority and Environment Agency reports have just landed on my desk. I need to make a start on reviewing these as they will give me an idea of what risks are present at the site and what to test for in the field.
2:30pm: I take a break from ploughing through the numerous site reports as I have a meeting with a housing developer. We have just successfully completed tests on one of their sites where we supervised the remediation of it to prepare it for residential development. The developer is applying for planning permission for a new site in the North West and would like us to take a look at it.
4:30pm: I check my emails and respond to an oil spill response enquiry regarding a kerosene tank that has failed in someone’s back garden. We receive many enquiries every week from property developers, architects, civil and structural engineers about land conditions on brownfield sites and what remedial action maybe required for development.
5:15pm: I have a quick meeting with the team to update on work-in-progress and share best practice before heading off to the Women in Property annual dinner.
