Before buying land, it is worth knowing what you do not yet know.
A site can appear benign, the zoning may suit the proposed use, there may be no obvious signs of potential contamination, the vendor may not be aware of any issues, but significant contamination liabilities could be lurking!
Contamination can affect the land value, financing, planning approval and construction costs, not to mention timing.
The best time to understand these risks is before the purchase terms and development feasibility are fixed.
A pre-purchase due diligence environmental site assessment does not always mean drilling boreholes. Often, the first step is a review of the site history, environmental records, surrounding land uses and current site conditions.
A desktop review can be used to triage sites and support your decision to proceed, further investigate, renegotiate, request more information or step away from the purchase.
A simple check could prevent you from unwillingly purchasing a former service station, dry cleaner, printers or other high-risk sites, and also acquiring the associated contamination liability.
Atma Environmental helps developers, builders and property purchasers understand what is known, what is uncertain, and whether further work is warranted before the project is too far advanced.
Before buying land, it is worth knowing what you do not yet know.
