Blacktown City Council engaged Kleinfelder to complete geotechnical and contaminated land investigations to assist with assessment of any remediation or design requirements for commercial developments across eight sites as part of the WestInvest Transformational Projects for western Sydney.

Due Diligence

The works initially included a Detailed Site Investigation (DSI) to establish the nature and extent of contamination (if present) and to provide preliminary geotechnical design advice for proposed upgrades to community centres across the greater Blacktown Local Government Area.

The DSI at one site discovered chrysotile (white asbestos) considered to comprise degraded asbestos cement products, possibly related to building structures or imported in fill material. This was the primary contaminant identified and required consideration and/or remediation for current and future land use.

Geotechnical Investigations

Investigations at each site consisted of a combination of drilled- and hand-augered boreholes, with 40+ boreholes being drilled to depths up to 9.7 meters below ground level (mbgl) and 80+ hand augered bores to depths of 1.7mbgl. Standard Penetration Testing was also conducted at 1.5m intervals. Rock cores samples were strategically taken throughout investigation areas to further assist with determining the suitability of proposed building structures and footings.

Project Results

Following an extensive investigation program across multiple sites, Kleinfelder identified several sites requiring further investigations. To date, Kleinfelder has been involved in further identifying, delineating, and providing management plans related to identified contaminants and assisting with progressing development of the sites.

With areas of deep waste discovered at certain sites, Kleinfelder’s geotechnical engineers provided a variety of footing solutions, advice on retaining walls and excavations, and design recommendations where appropriate, in addition to identifying areas geotechnically unsuitable for development.

Project Details

Location:
Sydney, New South Wales

Owner:
Blacktown City Council