Coleraine based land remediation company ATG Group is helping retail giant Lidl make history in Latvia as it prepares to build a new store in the country’s capital city.

The firm’s work on the site in Riga is the first time any construction development in the country has used remediation techniques on contaminated sites.

Working under contract with local environmental services company VentEko, ATG Group is using methods it has developed to install a barrier system to manage historical contamination at the site in Riga.

A radical plan was needed to protect the Sarkandaugava canal – which borders two sides of the site – after high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons were discovered.

Traditionally, Latvian construction sites would opt for dig and dump of contaminated soil, but VentEko decided to look at a remediation strategy.

Using hydrogeological modelling in conjunction with Riga University, VentEko concluded that a barrier combined with impermeable surfacing on site to prevent infiltration was needed.

ATG Group was then contracted to use its technologically-advanced methods to build the barriers. They are being installed via a soil mix design using augers due to the high water table and unstable ground conditions.

Not only does the technique help clean pollution from more than 52,000 tones of soil, it is also helping reduce Lidl’s carbon footprint by cutting 324,000kg of CO2 emissions.

CAPTION:   Dr Mark McKinney, left, with VentEko’s CEO Arta Bažovska and Lidl Latvija Board member Arūnas Dzikas.