Representative Design-Build

Brownfield Cleanup Program Design-Build
New 7th Street Site, Buffalo, NY

Background
The New 7th Street Site is an approximate 2-acre, former gasoline service station located adjacent to a historic manufactured gas plant property in downtown Buffalo, New York. In 2006 the property was entered into the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) by 257 West Genesee Street, LLC, who proposed redeveloping the site as a parking lot to service a planned multi-story office building on the adjoining former gas plant property, which was also entered into the BCP under a separate application.

Expedited Design-Build Cleanup

Because construction of the office was on a fast track, Benchmark was retained as part of the project team to coordinate and implement a fast-track, design-build approach to the 7th Street Cleanup, which involved removal and offsite disposal of several thousand tons of petroleum-impacted soil/fill. Benchmark prepared and received NYSDEC approval of work plans and contract documents within a 4 week period. The remedial work was performed as an interim remedial measure (IRM), which further expedited the overall BCP process and allowed cleanup of the New 7th Street Site to be completed within approximately 3 weeks of construction start.

Redevelopment Coordination and Cost-Savings Measures
To facilitate construction and reduce project costs, Benchmark incorporated the developer’s subgrade backfill specifications and redevelopment grading plan into the design-build contract, allowing paving and garage construction to begin immediately upon completion of the cleanup work. We also worked with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to develop acceptable criteria for reuse of non-impacted, overlying site soils as deep backfill, reducing the volume of imported soil/fill. In lieu of truck decontamination, a temporary haul road was designed which assured contaminated soil would not be tracked offsite by dump trailers and tandems leaving the site.