LSP Services at Former Saint-Gobain Manufacturing Site

New Garden Park, a wholly owned 501(c)(3) non-profit organization subsidiary of Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC), is working to revitalize struggling areas of Worcester, Massachusetts through collaborative redevelopment projects with a focus on leveraging and promoting the local creative and innovative economy. This grant will be used on a portion of 51 acres of underused land in Worcester’s “Greendale Campus” area, which is the site of the former Saint-Gobain manufacturing company.

BETA has been working on the site since 2015, providing environmental assessment services for potential sources of contamination both in building materials and within the subsurface environment. With the recent award of USEPA Brownfields Grant Funding, BETA will now focus its work on an eight-acre portion of the larger 51-acre campus, providing Licensed Site Professional (LSP) and environmental engineering services. Previously conducted environmental assessment activities revealed contaminants within subsurface soils, ground water and/or subslab soil vapor beneath the footprint of the buildings located on the site. The source of this contamination has been determined to be from historical manufacturing activities.

The reuse strategy for this area directly aligns with the City of Worcester’s community goal of increasing and enhancing the city’s industrial and manufacturing sector which has suffered a significant decline in recent history. The proposed remediation and redevelopment of the Saint-Gobain campus has the potential to revitalize and enhance the surrounding neighborhood. The awarded USEPA funds will facilitate the hazardous materials abatement and demolition of vacant and obsolete buildings, and remediate the subsurface soils, ground water, and subslab soil vapor beneath structures located on this eight-acre area, allowing for clean, pad-ready development sites.

Upon completion of the remediation, New Garden Park anticipates these pad-ready sites will be redeveloped, placing the vacant and blighted parcels back into productive use, creating new jobs in the community, and generating additional tax revenue for the City. Additionally, the remediation and redevelopment of this site will increase public accessibility, providing the surrounding community with the ability to utilize the streets and sidewalks to navigate through a parcel that had previously been inaccessible to the public.