The Philadelphia Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers has selected Urban Engineers, Inc. to receive its 2003 Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award for the firm’s accomplishments in “Converting a Brownfield Site into a FedEx Facility and Parkland.”

The project, for the City of Philadelphia’s Commerce Department, involved the site of a former asphalt and tar roofing plant adjacent to the Schuylkill River in southeast Philadelphia. Urban was engaged by the City to determine the suitability of the contaminated 8.5-acre site for redevelopment.

Urban conducted field investigations to confirm the contamination sources, conducted a risk assessment, modeled groundwater plume migration, and assessed the impact on the Schuylkill River.

When buried vaults and tanks filled with contaminated liquid were discovered during the site characterization work, Urban undertook emergency cleanup. Actions included pumping and extracting contaminated groundwater and extracting and disposing of contaminated oil and tank remnants.

Urban also helped prepare a Buyer-Seller Agreement between the City and FedEx to redevelop 85 percent of the site with a new $15 million distribution facility. The remaining 15 percent of the site, located along the banks of the Schuylkill River, will become part of the future Schuylkill River Greenway Park. The new FedEx facility, which employs 150 people, opened in January 2002.

Redevelopment of the contaminated site generated the following benefits:

Environmental Benefits

• Mitigated soil and groundwater contamination and protected public health
  
• Removed 15,000 tons of contaminated soil and disposed of properly
  
• Removed 10,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater and tons of assorted debris
  

Economic Benefits

• Created 150 new jobs with a $15 million investment
  
• Reclaimed and reinvigorated former abandoned industrial location
  
• Stabilized surrounding commercial and residential communities
  
  

Sustainable Design

• Redeveloped a long-abandoned Brownfields site
  
• Mitigated risks posed by industrial soil and groundwater contamination
  
• Mitigated risk of migration of contaminants to Schuylkill River
  

The project also won the "2002 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence" for the City of Philadelphia's Commerce Department.