Building and Property

CIRIA events help to prepare for contaminated land changes

Your Expert Witness CIRIATwo events in May will bring together the Local Authority Contaminated Land Network (LACL) and the Brownfield Risk Management Forum (BRMF) of CIRIA, the Construction Industry Research and Information Association.

Firstly, on 16 May, a one-day event in York – Sampling and Monitoring for Hazardous Ground Gasses – will examine how current good guidance can lead to good practice in ground gas risk assessment. The seminar will highlight the importance of the conceptual site model and the potential for mathematical models. Case studies will be used to demonstrate the usefulness of the guiding principles for ground gas risk assessment.

Down the road in Leeds on 26 May, an event hosted by Leeds City Council will explore how recent changes in government legislation, policy and funding restrictions – including the proposed changes in development planning and new statutory guidance – will affect the way local authorities and other practitioners deal with contaminated land. The much anticipated new statutory guidance is going through parliament and expected to be approved in April 2012.

The event will It will also examine how different types of brownfield projects are being funded and how findings of the recent DEFRA normal level studies could affect the way that contaminated sites are designated in the future.

• Now with over 140 members, LACL has been established specifically to address the needs of local authority officers with contaminated land responsibilities. CIRIA's Brownfield Risk Management Forum (BRMF) aims to encourage cross-sector communication and learning between the technical, financial and legal professionals involved in Brownfield projects.

CIRIA is an industry-wide forum for the exchange of ideas by some of the industry's foremost experts on issues concerning sustainable construction. Many consultants who act as expert witnesses in such areas of expertise are among its members and contributors to its research.

CIRIA's contaminated land research is highly regarded by construction professionals. An independent study, commissioned by Defra, ranked CIRIA as the most influential non-government body on the subject.