NBA BRITISH COLUMBIA
B.C. Brownfield Highlight: Bamberton
The Bamberton property located in Mill Bay on Vancouver Island is a former cement plant site that ceased operations in the early 1980s. Since that time, it has fallen into a derelict and unstable condition. Three Point Properties purchased the site in March 2005, and began an ambitious deconstruction and remediation project. All of the buildings were deconstructed, with Three Point salvaging 2,800 tonnes of steel and 40 tonnes of asbestos-containing pipe insulation from buried Bunker C fuel lines on site. With the help of Seacor Environmental Inc. and geotechnical engineers C.N. Ryzuk & Associates, Three Point developed an aggressive remediation plan. This included the excavation of three large landfills of waste cement product and cement kiln dust as well as residual contamination located on site that was placed into an engineered soil storage facility inside the former limestone quarry on site. The plan included approvals from provincial and federal agencies including the MOE, Land Remediation Section and the Ministry of Energy; Mines and Petroleum Resources under a Reclamation Plan; and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada for construction of a road adjacent to the ocean to safely remediate one landfill that was perched on a cliff face.
In all, Three Point relocated 850,000 m3 or 520,000 tonnes of soil over 16 months. The final engineered facility was capped with clay and hydroseeded to create an 11-acre greenspace in what is hoped to be a revitalized comprehensive development site on 5 km of oceanfront property. Nearly 1,000 acres of the 1,500-acre development will be dedicated to the region for use as parks and green space, rivaling Stanley Park in size.
This past fall, Three Point Properties received several major awards for the reclamation of the Bamberton property, including “Outstanding Reclamation Achievement in a Quarry” from the B.C. Mines Association and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources; the Canadian Urban Institute and Canadian Brownfields Network award for “Sustainable Design & Technological Innovation on a Brownfield Site”; and the 2007 APEG (Association of Professional Engineers & Geoscientists) BC Environment Award for the “Concept and Assessment of the Bamberton Revitalization Project,” which recognizes outstanding contributions toward environmental protection and sustainable development.
View pictures of the old cement plant and new construction here.
Contact info:
Michelle Mahovlich, Development Manager
Three Point Properties, Bamberton Site Office
(250)743-3737
www.bamberton.com