This year’s SiLC Annual Forum was held virtually on Tuesday 30^th March between 09:30-13:30. Over 100 delegates joined us on the webinar.

Hosted by SiLC PTP Chair, Ian Evans (Technical Director at Wood PLC), the event featured a stellar line up of expert, industry speakers, each covering a wide array of topics.

The interactive event encouraged audience participation via live polls, the webinar chat facility and Q&A sessions. Delegates also had the opportunity to network in one of the multiple breakout rooms, each co-hosted by our presenters and members of the SiLC PTP.

The event was sponsored by Jackson Remediation Ltd as the Diamond Sponsor and VertaseFLI Ltd as the Gold Sponsor.

Speakers

Joe Jackson of Jackson Remediation Ltd, presented on Remediation and Risk: Identification, Mitigation and Transparent Apportionment

Joe looked at the importance of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and mechanisms to engage with Contractor pre-Contract.  Transparent and collaborative Risk (and Opportunity) identification methods were discussed along with suitable methods of apportionment and mitigation.

Dr. Alan Thomas, Technical Fellow at ERM & Co-Chair of SuRF UK, gave a presentation on The SuRF UK Sustainability Process and Indicator Guidance.

The SuRF UK sustainability indicator set was originally published in 2011 and has been widely used both in the UK and internationally. Following review SuRF UK has further developed the guidance to provide a greater depth in the rationale for each headline and a more explicit set of instructions for their use. Alan provided an introduction and brief overview of this recently revised guidance.

Ellanor Joyce, Project Manager within the Magnox Winfrith End State Project, presented on the phased assessment of land quality for the Winfrith site through the final stages of decommissioning to support site closure

Ellanor is responsible for integrating site restoration objectives, interfacing with decommissioning projects and ensuring effective stakeholder engagement to support the final stages of decommissioning and site restoration.  The Magnox Winfrith nuclear site is moving through to decommissioning process to deliver the next planned land use of Heathland with Public Access and the eventual release from regulatory controls after 60 years of operations.

Ellanor provided an overview of the approach and process for land quality assessment and management across the site to allow the next land use and release from regulatory controls.

Dr. Tom Henman, Director at RSK Geosciences and Deputy Chair of the SiLC PTP, presented on Effective Risk Communication and Stakeholder Engagement

Starting with the question are we paying enough attention to communicating understanding of land contamination risks, Tom provided a reminder of relevant guidance and key principles for effective risk communication and stakeholder engagement. The award-winning Buchanan St. Ambrose Schools independent review was presented as a case study. Here such techniques were applied successfully to achieve a transition from stakeholder concern regarding health impacts and potential links to land contamination at the site and suspicion of public authorities’ motives to one of acceptance, trust and confidence being restored.

Highly experienced contaminated land officers Ann Barker and Rebekah Norbury jointly provided an introduction to the National Contaminated Land Officers’ Group (NCLOG) from inception through to progress to date plus an updated view on NQMS from a Contaminated Land Officer’s viewpoint.

Dr. Paul Nathanail, Technical Director Contamination Assessment and Remediation at GHD UK and Deputy Chair of the SiLC Board, provided an interesting and useful presentation on Professional Qualifications and their recognition in a post-Brexit world.

A professional is someone who is recognised by their peers as having special knowledge or skills and who applies them under a code of conduct.  Working in different jurisdictions as a recognised professional can allow knowledge transfer and provide suitable opportunities for the individual.  With the UK’s departure from the European Union, it is no longer the case that our professional qualifications are recognised within the EU – or vice versa.  Paul reflected on what this means for individuals and their potential clients.

In addition to the webinar speakers and presentations, a workshop on Sustainability was provided by Louise Allan MIEMA, CEnv, who is a Sustainability Manager in the Defence Infrastructure Organisation. Louise provided a workshop during the breakout sessions, bringing with her, 20 years experience in a variety of sustainability and environmental teams across the estate and equipment branches of the Ministry of Defence. Her expertise has lain in the strategic tools and processes that co-ordinate and encompass the many specialist topics under the Sustainable Development banner (including Land Quality objectives). These include Sustainability Appraisals and Strategic Environmental Assessment, Sustainable Procurement, and corporate Sustainability Strategies and governance.
Her current priorities include refining DIO’s Sustainability Strategy and embedding Social Value in infrastructure procurements. Both workshops were well attended and provided some thought provoking discussions.

Sponsor Overview

Jackson Remediation is a specialist Remediation and Enabling contractor which focusses on value creation and quality delivery, drawing upon deep technical expertise and profound understanding of the construction process. By consistently striving to address contamination issues in the most robust yet cost effective manner, clients never need to choose between price and quality again. https://www.jacksonremediation.co.uk/

 

VertaseFLI are extremely pleased to be sponsoring the SilC conference once again. VertaseFLI are one of the largest remediation contractors in the UK and technical excellence has always been at the core of our offering to clients. Our full range of service can be found at www.vertasefli.co.uk.

 

 

 

 

Contact SiLC@SiLC.org.uk if you have any queries about this event or our future events.