The five‑acre site is part of a previous industrial compound at which historical soil and groundwater had been discovered. After implementing required investigative and remedial actions in the upper four feet of the site soils, the entire site received a Covenant Not to Sue through Ohio EPA’s Voluntary Action Program (VAP) before portions were sold to new owners.
One requirement of the Covenant Not to Sue was to develop and implement a Risk Mitigation Plan (RMP) to protect workers on the site at the time of construction. Bowser-Morner was contracted to implement the RMP during construction of the Helix Innovation Center.
The new property owner, aware of the requirements of the RMP, needed to comply with the RMP and volunteered to install a passive vapor barrier to protect the future occupants of the building. BMI’s first tasks were to develop a site-specific Health and Safety Plan and a management system for the RMP’s requirements.
In all, Bowser-Morner performed environmental services, as well as geotechnical services, construction observation, materials testing, and subsurface exploration services on this site.
Our environmental services included observation of all excavation activities to determine when the Point of Compliance was breached and to communicate Next Steps to comply with the RMP to the contractor for implementation.
BMI’s staff also observed the installation of the vapor barrier and tested the vapor barrier seams. Throughout the project, BMI guided the contractor through specific material handling procedures for soils excavated from the contaminated zone, storage of contaminated soils and prevention of stormwater contamination. BMI also provided extra services, such as estimating disposal costs of contaminated wastes and sampling and analysis of borrow soil.
BMI’s intimate knowledge of construction practices allowed us to nimbly pivot when site conditions changed such that they hindered project progress.
In addition, our staff’s knowledge of the VAP/RMP requirements, strong project management skills and large team of field personnel allowed our client to meet the RMP without having to use a much more expensive VAP CP, avoiding approximately 30 to 50 percent on the project cost for environmental professionals.