KF: What kind of environmental consulting do you offer to developers at the planning stage of an investment? What sets REMEA apart from the competition?
MG: First of all, we try to assist the developer by raising awareness of the opportunities and risks of the property. In order to get a full picture of what is possible and what is not, you need to have reliable information, and such information can only be provided by a solid geotechnical and environmental reconnaissance of the ground. Ideally, the developer should come to us even before buying the property and have a preliminary survey of the ground. We advise on what supplementary research should be done and what estimated additional costs may be associated with the development on the property. We provide a preliminary timetable, with an estimate of how much the implementation process may be prolonged due to any contamination that may be present.
Our strengths are our solid engineering roots, which give us an excellent understanding of the investment life cycle with an emphasis on the construction process itself. We strive to carry out our consulting, and consequently our remediation projects and selection of the remediation method, taking into account the development plan of the project, the type of construction, the way it is founded, the impact on neighboring facilities, the schedule and other considerations. As a result, we can offer clients a comprehensive solution to the problem from research, design, pilot testing in our laboratory, to realization.
KF: What markets or sectors do you see as the most promising for the company's future growth? Do residential developers make up a large portion of your customers?
MG: With the high degree of economic uncertainty at the moment, this is obviously difficult to estimate. Especially since most of our principals belong to the public sector, which raises funds from EU/Norway funds, etc. However, from our observations, it seems that a large part of our orders will come from military themes, urban revitalization, industrial, and we have high hopes that more and more will come from real estate development projects. Every year we see an increase in inquiries for estimating remediation work from developers. The increase in these inquiries, however, is related not only to the decreasing number of available, attractive properties in the city, but also to increasing investor awareness of the dangers that may await in the ground and the sealing of waste management laws. Unfortunately, the old course of action, in the event of encountering contamination, was to take the waste “off the record” to another site/hole/forest without doing any testing. This undoubtedly contributed to the spread of contamination to suburban areas as well. Fortunately, local waste/remediation laws are slowly patching up any loopholes, and environmental police (including the WIOŚ) are becoming more and more effective. In Pomeranian Voivodeship alone in 2023. The WIOŚ has intervened 2,300 times and imposed nearly 15million zlotys in fines for environmental damage. This has resulted in greater compliance with the rules on conducting soil and water surveys, including from an environmental perspective, particularly on properties whose previous use may have led to land contamination.
KF: What are your clients' main expectations of your services and how do you meet them?
MG: First of all, clients expect us to professionally and cleanly carry out the entire process of research, design, agreement with administrative authorities and the implementation itself. As you can see, there are quite a few of these elements, so comprehensiveness is an equally frequent requirement. Carrying out the remediation process in the formula of the study together with the design and implementation of the implementation is often the most advantageous for the Investor. From the very beginning until the end, we take over many of the Investor's responsibilities. We have our own research department, we are accredited for soil sampling, we have a design department and an implementation team, as well as a physical-chemical and microbiological laboratory where we can test the adopted solutions. We also have a hazardous waste treatment center. This makes it possible for us to realize this complexity with our own resources. In this way, we reduce the risk of third-party influence on the schedule of the work in progress.
KF: What are the key challenges in remediating land that was previously used for industrial activities and is now being converted?
MG: The biggest challenge is still to accurately identify the problem we are dealing with. First and foremost, conducting a meticulous historical analysis of the site and conducting a proper reconnaissance of the soil and water medium. Selecting the right grid of surveys and the right type of surveys for the property and potential contamination. Only with a set of data can one proceed to the selection of a remediation method and the preparation of a Draft Remediation Plan.
The second, equally important challenge is to know the future function of the site, and preferably to have a blueprint for the project to be built on it. It may not be obvious, but remediation activities, even those that are not very invasive, can significantly interfere with the strength parameters of the soil, which has a major impact on the geotechnical scope of a given investment (including how foundations are laid). Therefore, it is important to approach the problem of remediation and method selection with a broader engineering view.
KF: What are the benefits of development projects in industrial areas?
MG: The benefits can really be many. Starting with the great locations that brownfield sites offer. Using the example of the Tri-City, shipyard areas are currently very popular. Former wastelands are giving way to more development projects, which are overgrowing the newly developed post-industrial part of the city. Another argument may be the greater possibility of negotiating the price of real estate due to the conditions that exist there, requiring additional work. There is also the advantage of carrying out the investment in accordance with current trends in the world: circular construction, green transformation. A well-conducted project on a brownfield site can be a very profitable investment, and as a rule it is. However, it is important to bet on good quality data, to thoroughly identify the analyzed site, not only from a formal point of view, and to design the remediation taking into account the boundary conditions set by the future investment.
For more information, please visit: https://www.remea.pl/.
Maciej Giełczyński, M.Sc., Manager of the North Branch
Maciej Giełczyński is a graduate of Gdansk University of Technology, where he graduated from construction with a specialization in geotechnics. He is a member of the Pomeranian Chamber of Civil Engineers. He has a construction license, which he currently uses in complex remediation projects.
He started his professional career in 2014 at Menard Poland as a construction engineer. After joining the production preparation team from 2016, he developed the company's operations in Szczecin, resulting in the opening of a regional office. In 2017, he assisted in the development of Menard's operations in Lithuania. From 2022, he was hired as Branch Manager North at REMEA to develop the company's business in the northern Poland region. In 2023, he opened the company's first hazardous waste treatment center in the north.
Maciej Giełczynski is an expert with more than 10 years of experience in geotechnics. He has participated in the development of many ground reinforcement, geotechnical projects and remediation plans.
