Property
Issue No. 37 - October/November 2007
Site cleanup law reform to drive real estate rush
Adelaide-based remediation company Remediate is set to play a leading role in a contaminated site cleanup resurgence in South Australia.
The Environmental Protection (Site Contamination) Amendment Bill going before State Parliament this year is expected to bring new hope for developing moribund former industrial sites in Adelaide suburbs.
The Bill give the EPA new powers to issue site assessment and remediation orders and mechanisms to help clarify who is responsible for contaminated land cleanup. This will add certainty and clarity to contaminated land transactions.
Rising real estate prices and the residential land shortage are also driving the cleanup push.
”There is a number of former industrial sites in the outer metropolitan area that are now valuable as residential or commercial real estate even taking into account the cleanup costs,” says Property Council (SA) Executive Director, Nathan Paine.
“The equation now stacks up, which is good for developers, the community and overall economic development.”
Historically, the cost and time required for site remediation has been difficult to quantify, creating a high degree of risk for developers. Many former service station sites, for example, have simply been ‘mothballed’.
But cheaper cleanup technologies and increasing land values are already having effect.
Remediate was recently involved in cleaning up the former Cooper’s Brewery site in Adelaide. The cleanup posed several challenges for the project team. Remediate worked with the developers to deliver the groundbreaking project.
From 1881 to 2001, the Cooper family ran its brewing empire from the site, on Statenborough St in Leabrook. The brewery relocated in 2002 and the site was sold to Adelaide property developers Simon Chappel and David Smallacombe for residential redevelopment.
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