Environmental Services 

Human health is determined by the quality of our environment. In a world where the pressure on sustainable development has never been higher, responsible environmental management is essential in improving the world around us. Environmental management involves planning and controlling human activities to avoid or mitigate any impact on the environment. At Egniol there is nothing that we take more seriously. 

 

We help our clients to understand their environmental responsibilities and comply with their regulatory obligations. In so doing we protect their business, the communities around them and the wider environment. 

Egniol has been engaged by SUEZ at Connon Bridge for a number of years, providing technical advice and design services relating to a variety of landfill infrastructure projects at the site, including the design and construction of geosynthetic capping systems, gas and leachate extraction system enhancements, surface water management systems and haul road improvement works. 

Importantly, we are also contributing towards the delivery of the final restoration scheme to assist in the final closure of the site. Our work is critical in helping our client to operate and restore the site to the highest environmental standards, manage environmental risks and bring long-term environmental benefit to the site and its surroundings. 

Horton Clay Pit was worked for Gault clay from the early 1900s for use in construction and was subsequently developed an engineered landfill by our client Viridor Waste Management. Today, part of the site includes a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and this area has required infilling with inert soils to provide long term stability to existing slopes on site and to allow effective surface water drainage across the site, with subsequent restoration of the new land profile to grassland, woodland and open spaces to provide local biodiversity. 

The project was extremely challenging and environmentally sensitive given that it had to be undertaken without impact to the SSSI and also within time constraints imposed by the site planning consent. 

 

Egniol’s environmental specialists were engaged to manage and supervise the soil importation and placement, monitoring the operations on site to maintain compliance with the planning consent and the operating permit throughout and ensuring that the SSSI was protected as the site was brought into final restoration. 

Our client, Viridor Waste Management, had a need to increase and upgrade the leachate storage capacity at its Pilsworth South Landfill. A leachate storage facility with an increased capacity and a specification compliant with current regulations was required to maintain effective management of leachate levels within the landfill mass to below, facilitate efficient tankering of the leachate and to reduce risk of polluting local receptors. 

 

Egniol was appointed to upgrade the existing leachate storage facility in order to enable Viridor to manage its environmental risks and maintain compliance with the site operating permit. We designed additional leachate management infrastructure to interface with the existing leachate management system and be constructed with minimal disruption to site operations. 

The solution comprised two new large scale leachate storage tanks, a reinforced concrete secondary containment bund and a new tanker bay with tanker connection points that can be individually selected to work independently and a vehicle maintenance area. 

 

The new leachate management system has been designed with multiple environmental protections built in and includes for filling procedures on an auto mode using ultrasonic transducers to monitor leachate levels within the system and transfer pumps with analogue high-pressure alarms to stop the pumps should there be a blockage in any part of the system, assuring Viridor of complete peace of mind in managing leachate at the site. 

The United Mines site, located near Redruth in Cornwall, was a former tin and copper mine. It has undergone progressive completion and restoration work in accordance with the site operating permit and planning requirements. The work has been wide ranging and covered most aspects of the engineering of former landfills prior to return to beneficial use. 

 

Egniol has provided wide ranging environmental services to our client SUEZ in the restoration of the site. These have included the preparation of a Site Restoration Plan for the use of soil forming waste materials as a waste recovery operation; the creation of a wide range of ecological habitats to form heathland, native woodland, glades and acid and native grassland and integration into a fully functioning ecosystem;  

design and construction supervision of the surface water management system; and the re-establishment of a 1.3 kilometre public bridleway across areas of the historical tin and copper mine and the landfill containment cells. 

 

Our work at this challenging site has helped to bring an area of derelict land back in to beneficial use for the local community and created a range of valuable habitats that will enhance the local surroundings.