Winchburgh Auldcathie Landfill Remediation
Significant landfill remediation to create community green infrastructure.
Approximately 1km northwest of Winchburgh town centre, lies the former Auldcathie landfill site. This is the largest landfill reclamation project in the UK and I & H Brown have been recruited to oversee its restoration.
The project was a planning obligation of our client, Winchburgh Development. Our extensive scope of works on their behalf was to enable the creation of a District Park with public facilities, car parking, access arrangements, and associated uses for the wider Winchburgh community.
Predominantly comprised of uncapped biodegradable waste – including construction waste and commercial/industrial materials – the site required significant remediation. To facilitate this, we undertook a programme of works to construct one of Scotland’s largest green spaces – stretching over a grand total of 85 acres. The new Auldcathie District Park connects through the heart of the new town centre, linked via a network of footpaths to Daisy Park and beyond to the east.
Winchburgh Developments Limited (WDL)
Winchburgh, West Lothian
£6.8 million
178 weeks
Key Challenges.
Comprising an area of some 2500m2, the presence of giant hogweed within the District Park site meant that significant pollution prevention works were required. Completed under SEPA licence, contaminated materials were buried within designated zones, under a minimum of 1m of clean material.
In terms of restoration works, capping was required to prevent access to historical waste – allowing landfill gas to be sufficiently controlled. The use of an extensive earthwork strategy allowed us to incorporate excess soils from multiple phases of the wider development, thus negating the need to import material.
Our Solution.
Forming part of a larger Winchburgh Core Development Area, our work included the excavation and disposal of invasive species, re-profiling of waste and soils, followed by the placement of geosynthetic clay miners over the landfill, before capping with clean soils.
Additionally, extensive drainage works were completed with the installation of gas management apparatus and permanent flares to manage gas release from the landfill. Focusing on community benefit, over an acre of park was allocated to the Winchburgh Growers to create a communal planting space for growing vegetables locally.
The works were concluded with the installation of an extensive path network comprising 2.5km of running, walking, and fitness loops, a new biking track, and a large play area.
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