This working group was set up following the 2021 RemSoc conference to pool together industry knowledge and prepare a guide to “Betterment”, to help to raise standards within the industry when implementing this often quoted but rarely ‘fully understood’ concept.

The working Group is being led by Neil Hopkins (Vertase FLI) and the Terms of Reference (provided below) have been agreed by the Steering Committee.

Terms Of Reference

Why is it being completed?

Even though “Betterment” is a term used and implemented widely during the remediation of contaminated land, there is a significant amount of varying opinions of what the word Betterment means (in the context of contaminated land) and what is required to ensure it is achieved.

These varying opinions, coupled with the lack of a formal definition, are likely to lead to inconsistencies in implementing such schemes and often result in disagreements between relevant stakeholders such as clients, consultants, contractors and regulators of when Betterment has been achieved.

The development of a Practitioners Framework will reduce this ambiguity resulting in a more consistent approach to implementing Betterment schemes throughout the UK closely aligned to UK regulations.

What do we intend to accomplish?

The development of a Practitioners Framework needs to accomplish the following key objectives:

• Develop a clear definition of “Betterment”. This needs to be concise, applicable to the context of soil and groundwater remediation and not open to misinterpretation
• Provide checklist to determine when Betterment is an appropriate solution for a particular set of circumstances (this will not replace existing Options Appraisals or Technology selections ).
• Enable clear Betterment objectives to be developed at the outset of a scheme and reducing conflicts towards the end of projects.
• Develop a step-by-step process that can be used during the implementation of a Betterment scheme to ensure the necessary information is collected for verifying that the remediation objectives have been achieved.

Who will be involved?

To get this Framework accepted and used by the industry, appropriate stakeholders must have input into its content. Therefore, industry consultation during its preparation is key.

As part of the process a list of consultees will be prepared for consideration, including (but not limited to) professionals from industry, consultancy, regulators, etc..

Consultation to take the form of  a list of key questions that can be provided for comment (i.e. define Betterment; the key issues when implementing such schemes, etc.) This will be done at the outset of document development to ensure that it is correctly aligned.

Information gained from the RemSoc Conference (2021) will also be used.

Frequency of meetings

The key members will meet every three weeks but, if necessary, more frequently.

Minutes are to be issued following each meeting, clearly presenting discussion points and actions. On-going draft of the Practitioners Guide will be regularly updated.

What will be the output?

A key aspect of the output will be to provide a document that becomes a “go-to” guide for remediation practitioners implementing Betterment schemes (Practitioners’ Framework). Therefore, it must be concise and provide details on real-world implementation/ scenarios (including Case Studies).