Anglian Undertake Major Groundworks Project for Norwich City Council

Posted On

23rd August 2023

Anglian Waste Group Ltd has started earthworks and remediation works for a major new housing project set to be built by Norwich City Council to rejuvenate one of Norwich’s oldest estates, Mile Cross located in the northern suburbs of Norwich.

This project is set to create 150-200 new homes, which will be available for let for social rent through Norwich Home Options. The site was previously used as a council depot site and was home to the Mile Cross Business Centre which closed in 2017. The business centre buildings were then demolished in 2019, and the site largely remained untouched until last year when Anglian were tasked with digging test pits, which were undertaken to determine the scale and type of contamination in the ground ahead of the project starting this year.

Anglian are responsible for preparing the site ready for the structural building works to take place, initially clearing the site of any contaminants for foundations to be laid and preparing the brownfield site for remediation of hazardous soils.

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Anglian Waste Group Ltd are the leading groundworks contractor on the regeneration of the former waste depot at Mile Cross in Norwich.

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John Bergin, Trainee Project Manager for Anglian at the Mile Cross site.

Transformation Underway

The former commercial depot and large brownfield site on Mile Cross Road is set to be transformed by hundreds of new homes. John Bergin, Trainee Project Manager for Anglian explains: “Our current scope is to dig down to the natural ground, looking for any contamination such as asbestos or waste material. We’ll then process that material, so out of the machines comes topsoil and rubble. The topsoil will be returned to the ground, and the rubble – usually bricks and tiles, will get crushed up leaving a nice fine material for the developers to use.

“The site is set to be developed to become affordable housing for Norwich City Council. We started at the end of January 2023 and we are on track to finish this portion of the project before the end of September.”

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The history of the site is detailed on the hoardings securing the Mile Cross Lane site.

Protecting the Environment with Site Remediation

Soil contamination occurs as the result of historical industrial processes and waste disposal practices – this can include asbestos and chemically impacted soils. Contaminated site remediation involves restoring the soil to its natural state – removing the toxic and hazardous elements including asbestos.

This is important for both the human health risk and the protection of the environment. Anglian are licensed to handle and treat hazardous waste, under our EA SR 2008 no.27 licence, all toxic and hazardous materials are disposed of safely and responsibly.

Treasures Discovered

The history of the site is detailed on hoardings at the edge of the site, allowing visitors an opportunity to connect with the history of the area before it is transformed into something new.

One of the most interesting items that has been found is what is believed to be a helmet, possibly dating back to World War Two. This is not completely unexpected, as the site was the location of large amounts of rubble after buildings in the city were bombed during the Baedeker Raids of 1942. Investigations are continuing to find out more information about the provenance and history of the helmet! Keep your eyes peeled for future updates on this!

Unidentified helment from the project 1 qbbqtf3h1q4iren44llz1y1aimzor3cs1ecyfy75no