Building Tomorrow's Cities on Yesterday's Contamination: A Case Study

Urban space is limited. Not only are we running out of real estate on which to build, the remaining real estate is very expensive. Properties that remain for development/redevelopment may be less than desirable due to the presence, or perceptual presence, of historical contamination. This paper presents a case study of a premier skyscraper under construction on land contaminated by coal tar in the 1800's. The issues that are addressed include: Innocent Owner status; existing contaminant characterization; and soil sequencing and disposal during construction. This paper presents one approach to the problem of existing soil contamination in a construction zone.