Rhodes Peninsula at Homebush Bay and parts of the Bay itself is set to be decontaminated in one of the largest private-sector projects ever conducted.
Trafalgar Corporate, who will either market the site or develop it in stages as medium-density housing, will develop the 16Ha site, made up of two properties owned by BT Funds Management and the NSW Government.
The Government's site is environmentally controversial, as it was previously owned by Union Carbide who used it for the manufacture of herbicides, pesticides & other chemical products with a dioxin residue.
Thiess Environmental Services in remediating the site will use the world's most advanced technology. The technology - Indirect Thermal Desorption (ITD) - heats and vaporises contaminants, enabling them to be captured for subsequent destruction.
In the first stage, contaminants are vaporised, cooled, condensed & captured with clean soil emerging from the process. The second stage is where the toxic captured compound is neutralised & the by-products are clean water, salt & oil, which are then recycled on-site.
Thiess has environmental protection methods installed in the project covering stormwater runoff, odour, noise & dust.
Current requirements are that the Peninsular is made totally clean & a commercial solution found to meet the costs.
According to Trafalgar, once the site is cleared, there will be a mix of single homes through to six-level apartment buildings and the site will uphold the ESD principles developed for the Olympic site and the new suburb of Newington.