Wardell Armstrong win a Ground Engineering Award!
Wardell Armstrong were delighted to win the Sustainability Award at this year’s Ground Engineering Awards.
Attracting some of the biggest names in the industry and international interest, the 2016 Ground Engineering Awards celebrate engineering excellence of the finest firms in the country.
The award winning project was the Ballynacor Waste Water Treatment Works sewage sludge remediation, using sewage sludge incinerator ash: Wardell Armstrong were commissioned by Veolia Water/Laing O’Rouke to assess the potential environmental impacts of 5 lagoons at Ballynacor Waste Water Treatment Works (WwTW). The five sewage lagoons were historically used as settling lagoons for sewage sludge at Ballynacor and from the surrounding area. The use of them ceased a number of years ago and were no longer required as part of the WwTW. Wardell Armstrong undertook ground investigations and detailed quantitative risk assessments that identified the lagoons as a potential on-going source of contamination which presented an unacceptable risk to the environment, most notably the local water resources and Lough Neagh, a sensitive SSSI site.
Based upon these risk assessments and following a detailed review of the potential remediation solutions Wardell Armstrong and Vertase FLI (Vertase) produced a detailed remediation strategy to mitigate the identified risks.
This appraisal identified Stabilisation and Solidification (S/S) of the lagoons as the most suitable remediation option and was the only option able to generate a fully treated material suitable for re-use on site.
The project was further enhanced through the use innovative use of waste ash destined for landfill within the remediation process. This waste was Sewage Sludge Incinerator Ash (SIA) generated at a nearby facility which had no viable or economic outlet and was being taken to landfill. This resulted in a reduction in the volume of other reagents required to treat the sludge and also avoided the cost and environmental impacts associated with landfill disposal of the utilised waste material.
Alexandra Wynne, acting editor of GE and deputy editor of New Civil Engineer, commented: “This year’s winners truly demonstrate exceptional engineering excellence. It is a time to focus on how this industry can be nimble, and ready itself to respond as soon as the opportunities arise. And all our winners today really do show what the industry is capable of and that it is ready to take on the next challenge.”