Walters recently handed over the completely remediated and ready-for-development, former Whiteheads Steelworks site in Newport to its new owners, Not-for-Profit organisation Tirion Homes.

Formerly a brownfield area since its demolition in 2005, the steelworks started life in the 1920″s, for almost a century it provided work for up to 2,000 local people at its height. Scheduled for demolition after its closure as part of the city regeneration plans, the 53 acre site had become extremely overgrown and contained a significant amount of residual structures, much of it sub-surface, reinforced concrete slab and foundation.

Following a detailed site survey and comprehensive initial investigation work, we commenced on a significant remediation programme. With our own fleet of over 600 plant and vehicles to call on, we were able to quickly deploy excavators, dump trucks, bulldozers, rollers and (importantly) crushing and screening equipment to the site.

With our extensive brownfield experience and knowledge, we were able to reprocess over 300,000 m3 of material to be re-employed on the site, including more than 100,000 m3 of slab work, foundations and other buried concrete structures, thus minimising off-site truck movements. We also uncovered a large amount of asbestos in the contaminated soils on site, we worked closely with the client and statutory consulting bodies, to minimise both the extra disruption (and cost) that such a discovery otherwise leads to. There were also a large number of invasive plant and weed species that were dealt with on site to avoid cross contamination. Full bio-remediation took place, resulting in a site that”s more than fit for purpose, it”s as ecologically sound as many green-field sites, providing a sustainable development platform for housing and families.

After an intensive 12 month programme costing £4.85 Million, the completed, cleaned-up development site was ready for development to begin. Tirion homes has plans to develop 498 homes on the site, with an almost 50/50 split between high quality rented properties and affordable homes for sale, in fact the initial properties are well underway already.