Sugden End Landfill Remediation Works
Overview
Sugden End was used as a landfill for 34 years, from 1964 to 1998, with household, industrial and commercial waste tipped within a former valley. The project forms s significant part of Bradford Council’s capital investment programme.
The 35-week groundworks programme for the City of Bradford MDC, is the first part of what will be a wider restoration project to create upland woodland with native oak, rowan and silver birch trees, moorland areas, wildflower meadows and rock pile areas on the landfill site. When complete the site will be divided by fencing and dry-stone walling.
Work on the 10-hectare site involved stripping temporary restoration subsoil materials then capping with a geo-synthetic clay liner. New layers of soil and subsoils are then placed on the liner and the new landscape is contoured to the previous ground level removing depressions caused by previous landfill settlement.
Planting of seed mix, moorland mix and trees and shrubs will take place with restoration of stone walls, boundary walls and fencing. New drainage is being constructed to ensure that leachate does not pollute watercourses. The works are required to maintain the planning approvals obtained for the site.
Key Challenges
- A difficult start to the project due to adverse weather conditions in January and February 2020
- COVID-19 – Work activities were restructured to take into account the required social distancing measures and an increased sanitisation and cleaning regime was implemented. Consequently, we were able to continue the works without delay and without any incident of COVID-19
- Landfill Gas
- Ecological Assessment
- Onerous Specification
- Invasive Species
- Landslips
Surface water runoff was carefully managed to minimise leachate production and management.
Added Value
Completed construction 5 months ahead of contract completion.
Key Achievements
- 100,000m3 of soils stripped off existing cap for re-use on site
- 30,000m2 of additional restoration soils imported to site – all from within a 6 mile radius
- Used structurally different soils for different slope profiles
- 40,000m2 grazing land created
- 50,000m2 of public woodland planted
- Lapwings nesting back on site
- Leachate from cell decreased by 85%
- Gas harvesting output increased – green electricity output by 60%
- Overcame challenges of COVID 19
- Site returned back to nature
- Use of local sub-contractors