Room for Something New: Bauer Umwelt Carries Out Soil Remediation on the Historic Diamalt Site
Munich, Germany – Anyone setting foot in Diamaltpark in the Munich district of Allach- Untermenzing is entering a historic site. It was here that, in 1903, the production of diastatic malt extract was started. It was a revolutionary ingredient that made the manufacture of bread and baked goods possible in the quantities that we are now accustomed to. Today, three heritage listed buildings at the center of the former factory site remind us of the illustrious boom period of Diamalt AG: A soup seasoning factory, a workshop building and a machine and boiler house. They will in future be landmarks in a new district that is being built on and around the empty site.
Bauer Umwelt, the environmental division of BAUER Resources GmbH, has played an important role in the preservation of this history after being commissioned with soil remediation and site clearance to make the former grounds of the baking agent manufacturer suitable for construction. The leading remediator of contaminated sites is also responsible for the construction of excavation pits for the new buildings as well as for explosive ordinance searches to certify the brownfield site is free of explosive ordinance. The remediation work was carried out in several phases and was executed between July 2017 and April 2020. In total, around 320,000 t of material was removed and disposed of.
The task definition at the start of the project was extensive: For example, although a large proportion of the contaminated backfill material and usage-based contamination had been determined, there were regular surprises in some areas. The soil conditions were extremely variable, reflecting a century of commercial and industrial use of the 7 hectare site. This showed that the ground conditions of a site such as this cannot be completely determined in preliminary investigations. Another challenge, according to Project Manager Burç Akker, was the mass movement of material and logistics in an inner city area. “The contaminated soil material was transported to the disposal facilities in more than 12,000 truck loads.”
Despite this, according to Stefan Haaszio, authorized representative of Bauer Resources, the remediation work was completed on schedule and the client, Isaria Objekt am Münchfeld GmbH, was presented with an almost completely decontaminated site. “The excavation works are largely completed, with only a small area that is currently inaccessible due to shell construction work left to be remediated in 2021.”
After project completion, Diamaltpark in the Munich district of Allach-Untermenzing will be a special new urban district: The historical buildings will finally be awoken from their slumber and brought back to life with 750 residential units, three childcare centers and 1.5 hectares of green space.
