Brownfields

Redevelopment of Trefil Arbed, Gentbrugge (Belgium)

Trefil Arbed was a very old eyesore to the citizens of Gentbrugge. Because of the historic pollution found, the area remained untouched after the nail factory went bankrupt. DEC and project developer Sovapex worked together to remediate soil and groundwater, contaminated with zinc, mineral oil, solvents and PAH's.

Most of the buildings on the site had since been demolished. A few building remained and were completely renovated. In addition to the removal of toxic waste, contaminated soil was excavated and treated in a soil remediation centre. The groundwater was pumped up and purified using an oil-water separator, sand filtration, Metasorb® filtration and a biofilter.

The property was subdivided into a North zone and a South zone, with both areas having a specific purpose. North zone is residential, green and a business zone. South zone is to be zoned as a container park among other things.

With this redevelopment, DEC succeeded in taking a heavily contaminated industrial site and turning it into a valuable site with a new purpose.