THE cost of safeguarding the proposed site for Brentford Football Club’s new ground could total nearly half a million pounds.
This is according to a survey carried out on behalf of the club, who’s owner Matthew Benham purchased 7.6 acres of land in Lionel Road South, near Kew Bridge, on June 28 last year.
The site in question is currently used for a range of industrial activites including waste transfer, fuel storage, car repairs, and engineering.
All of this will have to be cleared before construction can begin, and in order to make sure workers and eventual tenants are safe, the survey makes a number of recommendations. These include assessing soil quality at a possible cost of £5,000; auditing the whole site for £4,500; removing hydrocarbons present which could total £400,000 and other works which could hit £30,000.
On May 31 the developers working on the project to move away from Griffin Park after 110 years submitted plans for a 20,000 seater venue and 910 residential apartments to Hounslow Council.
Residents, fans and other interested parties are currently able to view the whole application on the council’s website as well as comment; with concerns already having been raised about the number of flats, parking provision, changes to Brentford’s skyline and matchday access to the ground.
The site was once listed on Ordnance Survey (OS) maps as a railway sidings called Kew Bridge North Goods Depot which was open from the late 19th Century until the 1980s.
Part of the site, which is triangular in shape thanks to the railway tracks, was also used by an adjacent coal depot right into the early 20th Century. The majority of its space is taken up by a firm called Quattro which works under licence in waste transfer, recycling and aggregates supply.
The report notes asbestos was once handled in the past but this process no longer continues; a number of fuel storage tanks were present in 2003 but have since been removed.
The northern part of Quattro’s land has been sublet to an infrastructure firm called May Gurney while the south-west is let to an artificial turf manufacturer called Easigrass.
Other businesses occupying the non-Quattro owned parts of the site are:
Brentford Commercials, which includes a garage for vehicle maintenance.
Ealing Car Rental, a car rental showroom which sub-lets the northern part of its site to a scaffolding company.
J Bartlett, which lets out to Hogarth Tyres which is involved in recycling car tyres.
N Payani, who has let two vehicle workshops; RT Performance (a car body shop) and Million Motors which carries out crash repairs.
Harrison Welding and R Turner, located in a brick building at the south of the site, R Turner is an engineering outlet.
The report notes the existence of three previous investigations into the quality of the land in this area, mostly to do with when they were still rail property.
In conclusion it states potential risks above the level ‘low’ have been identified on site and lists them as; a moderate risk to groundwater posed by hydrocarbons around former tanks, and potential moderate/low risks to site users posed by lead and hydrocarbons in the soil and soil gas,
It then makes the recommendations and reveals the likely cost of the necessary works.
The stadium is expected to open in time for the new football season of 2016.
To view the whole application visit Hounslow Council’s website and click the link for planning. The code for Brentford’s project is P/2013/1811
