CL:AIRE is a UK charity committed to providing a valuable service for all those involved in sustainable land reuse. We develop training resources, disseminate information and act as a credible resource for all stakeholders, ensuring we remain at the cutting-edge of best practice and innovation.
Improving efficiency & raising standards
Definition of Waste Code of Practice (DoWCoP), National Quality Mark Scheme for Land Affected by Contamination (NQMS), Asbestos in Soil, SuRF...
CL:AIRE works with its Members to raise awareness and pursue shared objectives in land, water and environmental management by collecting strategic industry information and developing industry initiatives that improve efficiency and save money.
The GPVS seeks to raise standards in membrane inspection, verification and reporting and provide confidence that risks associated with ground gases have been adequately managed.
The Definition of Waste Code of Practice (DoWCoP) provides a clear, consistent and efficient process which enables the reuse of excavated materials on-site or their movement between sites.
The National Quality Mark Scheme for Land Contamination Management (NQMS) is developed by the National Brownfield Forum to provide visible identification of documents that have been checked for quality.
The C4SL research project (Phase 1) provided technical guidance to support Defra's revised Statutory Guidance (SG) for Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (Part 2A). Part 2A was originally introduced to ensure that the risks from land contamination to human health, property and the environment are managed appropriately, with the revised SG being designed to address concerns regarding its real-world application. The revised SG presents a new four category system for classifying land under Part 2A, ranging from Category 4, where the level of risk posed is acceptably low, to Category 1, where the level of risk is clearly unacceptable.
Phase 1 Project
The Phase 1 project produced, demonstrated and communicated a methodology for developing C4SLs which represents as wide a consensus as possible in the field of land contamination risk assessment. The C4SLs represent a new set of generic screening levels for 6 contaminants which are more pragmatic (but still strongly precautionary) compared to the existing soil guideline values (SGVs) and other similarly derived numbers. The C4SLs consist of cautious estimates of contaminant concentrations in soil that are still considered to present an acceptable level of risk, within the context of Part 2A, by combining information on human health toxicology, exposure assessment and normal ambient levels of contaminants in the environment. Within the Phase 1 Defra publication, it was emphasised that further work to expand C4SLs for other contaminants would need to be led by industry.
Phase 2 Project
The Soil and Groundwater Technology Association (SAGTA) is leading a collaborative industry initiative which started formulating and developing a project framework in 2015. Funding for this phase has been secured from SAGTA members, with in kind contribution from a number of consultants and a financial grant from the Society of Brownfield Risk Assessment (SOBRA) www.sobra.org.uk. The project officially started in 2018. Phase 2 will develop 19 C4SLs for a range of contaminants which have been selected following a consultative process choosing the contaminants which would be most useful to industry. Subsequent funding has been received from Environment Agency in 2023 to develop the 20th substance for PFAS.
The full list of contaminants that C4SLs are being derived are as follows and those in green are now available to download (as pdf):
The project is being delivered by a consortium of partners which include the following:
Project Manager: CL:AIRE supported by Simon Firth (Firth Consultants Ltd) and Naomi Earl (Freelance Consultant)
Tier 1 Toxicologists: Sarah Bull (TARA Consulting); Camilla Alexander-White (MK Tox & Co Ltd) and George Kowalczyk (GK Toxicology Consulting).
Tier 2 Toxicologists: Natasha Glynn (Atkins); Gareth Wills (WSP); Jo Wilding (Independent); Laura Aspinall and Andrew Fellows (RSK); Melinda Evans (Soilfix); Adam Symonds, Duncan Grew & Peter Sheppard (Worley) and Kate Baker (Antea Group UK).
Exposure Modellers: Dave Brooks (Sirius); Gareth Barns (Geosyntec); Robert Reuter (Wardell Armstrong LLP); Catherine Cussell (RSK); Lucy Burn (Advisian) and James Lymer.
Steering Group
The project is being overseen by a Project Steering Group, led by Hannah White on behalf of SAGTA and consists of representatives from the following organisations:
SAGTA, Defra, Welsh Government, UKHSA, Public Health Wales, Foods Standards Agency, Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Homes England, Lancaster City Council, YALPAG, Wiltshire Council, Welsh Contaminated Land group, Mole Valley District Council, SoBRA, NHBC, AGS, EPUK, EIC and HBF.
Programme
The project will endeavour to deliver the C4SLs in a timely manner. However as this project is relying on a lot of industry goodwill and until we know the exact hurdles that we may face, we will provide updates to industry as to how the project is progressing through the National Brownfield Forum minutes (www.claire.co.uk/brownfieldforum) and CL:AIRE News (https://www.claire.co.uk/home/news).
Soil Guideline Values (SGV) and supporting technical guidance are intended to assist professionals in the assessment of long-term risk to health from human exposure to chemical contamination in soil.
There are different SGVs according to land-use (residential, allotments, commercial) because people use land differently and this effects who and how people may be exposed to soil contamination.
SGV are 'trigger values' for screening-out low risk areas of land contamination. They give an indication of representative average levels of chemicals in soil below which the long-term health risks are likely to be minimal. Exceeding an SGV does not mean that remediation is always necessary, although in many cases some further investigation and evaluation of the risk will be carried out.
SGV should not be used where they are not representative of the site under investigation. They do not assess other types of risk to human health such as fire, suffocation, explosion, or short-term and acute exposures. They also cannot be used to assess risks to controlled waters, property, pets and livestock, or ecological receptors.
SGV are available only for a limited number of chemical substances. However, the framework reports and software provide a starting point for the assessment of a much wider range of chemicals.
Professionals and regulators assessing risks to health from land contamination are not required to use SGV and the supporting technical guidance. Alternative approaches can be used provided that they satisfy the legislative requirements.
Framework Reports
The principles and method used to derive SGV is described in two main framework reports:
Professionals should be familiar with the information in these reports before using SGV in site assessments.
SGV and TOX Reports
The EA published SGV Reports and TOX Reports for a small number of soil contaminants. TOX Reports describe the toxicology of specific chemicals or groups of related chemicals including a summary of expert group evaluations. They also set out the recommended health criteria values (HCV) used in SGV derivation.
SGV Reports discuss the available evidence for the presence of specific chemicals in soil and their fate and transport in soil systems. In addition to the SGV themselves, the SGV Reports contain other useful information to assist risk assessors.
The EA published the calculations for deriving SGV as described in the framework reports as a spreadsheet for use by professionals in conjunction with the wider guidance. The CLEA software is written using Microsoft Excel and uses VBA macros to support functionality. In addition, a specific spreadsheet has been published to support the assessment of dioxins in soil.
SGV Reports and supplementary information for specific chemicals and groups of chemicals are available for download below.
It is recommended that professionals using SGV Reports are familiar with the information in the framework reports (see below). SGV Reports published before 2009 have been withdrawn. They were prepared using previous framework guidance (R&D Publications CLR7 – 10) published in 2002, which have been superseded.
HM Treasury has recently published a policy paper titled New approach to ensure regulators and regulation support growth. This action plan sets out the next steps to enable a regulatory...
The Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS) has recently published guidance Managing pressurised gases during drilling. This guidance provided information to aid ground engineering specialists in the risk assessment process.
CL:AIRE is delighted to announce that its Technology and Research Group (TRG) has a new member - Brian Reid, Professor of Soil Science at the University of East Anglia.
EiCLaR (Enhanced and Innovative In Situ Biotechnologies for Contaminated Land Remediation) was a project funded by the EU and China. It ran from January 2021 until the end of 2024...
The UK Government has announced the delay of digital waste tracking becoming mandatory in April 2025. It will now be introduced from April 2026. Read the updated policy paper
The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Toxics and Human Rights has issued a call for input to its thematic report on military activities and toxics. Topics covered are wide ranging including...
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has recently published sector guidance documents: Construction materials and Engineering, construction and real estate. In addition, TNFD is consulting on a sector guide -...
CL:AIRE is delighted to announce that its Technology and Research Group (TRG) has a new member - Tom Hayes from INEOS. A short biography is provided below.
CL:AIRE is delighted to publish its full 2025 training calendar. Full details on all the course contents are available by pressing each icon available here and the...
The Environment Agency's Chief Executive Philip Duffy outlines how it will support a new approach to regulators and regulations to support economic growth. This is available to
The Environment Agency is consulting on the development of Environmental Assessment Levels (EALs) for the amine-based carbon capture process. Further information is available here. The consultation...
RemTech Europe is taking place between 15-19 September 2025 and the call for abstracts is now open until 31 March 2025. RemTech Europe is a conference (hybrid format - online...
The Joint Agencies Groundwater Directive Advisory Group (JAGDAG) is currently seeking views on the determination of 25 substances - 17 Hazardous Substances and 8 Non-Hazardous Pollutants. These interim determinations have...
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is a research and knowledge exchange service based in the UK Parliament. It works to ensure that the best available research evidence...
Concawe has published a report called Identification of sustainable management practices (SMPs) for remediation projects at fuel manufacturing sites. This report presents the results of a project which aimed to develop a...
Scottish Government has now issued a revision of the Environmental Quality Standards and Status Directions 2024. The directions update the environmental standards and ways of classifying status, which are both...
CL:AIRE was delighted to host the first meeting of the International Soil Reuse Forum (ISRF) at its Reading office on 20 November 2024, joined by colleagues from Grondbank in Belgium,...