Carbon Reduction Digital Twin (CReDiT ) for Brownfield Remediation

Carbon Reduction Digital Twin (CreDiT) for Brownfield Remediation

The project is aimed at stream-lining the processes involved in the remediation of brownfield development sites. Current regulatory planning practices are often lengthy, requiring site investigation, risk assessment, remediation and validation to ensure the land is suitable for re- use. This incurs cost and adds time delays. The resulting site investigation reports are usually extensive and whilst the information is scanned and stored in planning databases (often in hard paper format), it is not automatically collated, nor analysed for environmental research. Furthermore, existing development frameworks are not optimised for achieving sustainability targets, typically favouring cost and time-savings over carbon reduction, wasting the opportunity to integrate the benefits of early intervention highlighted by the well-established carbon reduction curve.

Working together with our non-academic hosts at Leap Environmental, the aim of this research is to develop a digital twin approach as a powerful tool to re-evaluate the proposed remediation processes and take advantage of available digital technology. This will provide value engineering design and an improved understanding of the impact of design choices on a project's carbon footprint and sustainability profile. This would focus the design and resources for developers in terms of requirements for site investigations, risk assessments and remediation plans (for government or private developers) and improve planning and regulatory guidance for local government development strategy.
By applying such thinking early within a project (at pre-purchase or the planning application stage) it could enable clients to review the sustainability of the total system; enable radical rethinking of project design and remediation options, and maximise carbon savings. This in turn may also provide added economic and social benefits through material reuse and associated transport reduction.

A key feature of this project is the interaction with the stakeholders, in particular, the experts within LEAP Environmental - developing the research ideas and applications using software and facilities within this company and using site data and reports from ongoing remediation projects. The work will also be supported by colleagues (specifically, Dr Susan Hughes, Dr Donya Hajializadeh and Dr Mike Mulheron) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Surrey, who will benefit from the wider application of the digital framework and data which can then support other spin-off research proposals. Other key partners for whom the outcomes would be of interest include local government officers and planning regulators.