Contamination report - how much!!!!

[gc100]

Hi,

 

wasn't sure which sub forum to post this however one of the (many) conditions of our planning approval was to have a contamination report done.

 

Our barn conversion is currently on a farm formally a MOD airfield in WWII. Currently I'm getting quotes in at 1k +VAT for the desk base, then another 3.5K (estimate) for the phase 2 plus 1.5K for a UXO (unexploded ordnance) assessment.

 

This is a huge amount of money. I've tried a few companies in my county (Norfolk) and they are either about the same or more - one said phase 2 could be up to 30K depending..! ?

Looking at what they actually need to do it doesn't seem more than a half a day on site and then say 4-8 hours work back at the office, plus £500(max) for chemical analysis at a lab. It just seems crazy - a bit of a racket/easy money.

 

Wondering if anyone else has had this issue and did they find a lower cost solution/expert?

Many thanks

Edited December 3, 2018 by gc100

[LA3222]

These sorts of things are a scam - you are a captive audience unfortunately and so they have you by the short and curlies.  I daresay that being an old WWII airfield munitions of some description are likely.  Even if it wasn't a range, military personnel seem to have a habit of burying things rather than properly disposing of them - always have and likely always will.  

 

Unfortunately that gives the whoppers doing your survey another excuse to add to the tab!

 

 

[Sjk]

Ah yes, 

 

Odour report

Contamination report

Flood/drainage risk report

2 Noise reports

Archaeology DBA, Trenching and likely watching brief

 

Soo much money spent , but what can you do.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Sjk

[Ferdinand]

Tricky (as Deep Thought said to Vroomfondel and Majickthize).

 

I think my first comment is that the Deskcheck may be a bit over, but it is not horribly over. I think you may want to be in the £500 ballpark, but it will depend on your site.

 

There is quite a lot you can do yourself; I do not know if anyone here has actually written their own Phase I report, but some have done a substantial part of the spadework (online research and digging holes). There is some stuff on this thread:

 

In your case, is your barn old enough that you can show it has not been disturbed?

 

Can you invite someone to come and look for uxb's as part of their training or "keeping the skills"? Local Cadets?

 

All the best.

 

Ferdinand

Edited December 4, 2018 by Ferdinand

[nod]

Our conditions requested a virtual model quotes varied wildly 

Most wanted to do a walk through and we’re talking over £1000 

We found a company that was willing to do it as a desktop study for £350 

But did warn that LA may not accept a desktop study 

They did

[Moonshine]

12 hours ago, Sjk said:

Odour report

Contamination report

Flood/drainage risk report

2 Noise reports

Archaeology DBA, Trenching and likely watching brief

 

Sounds like a peach of a site! are you sure there aren't any big trees nearby? 

[jack]

8 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

Tricky (as Deep Thought said to Vroomfondel and Majickthize).

 

+1 for the HHGTTG reference.