No significant contamination has been found in the soil upon which the new Women's and Children's Hospital (nWCH) will be built, signalling another key milestone for the development of the new hospital.
The nWCH project team undertook a series of geotechnical and environmental testing between September and December last year at the old rail yard precinct, next to the Royal Adelaide Hospital off Port Road.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Stephen Wade said the soil structure results will help inform engineering assessments in the preparation and planning process for the new hospital.
"It's exciting to see the nWCH reaching another milestone, with positive test results showing a very low level of soil contamination at the site," Minister Wade said.
"A large portion of the site was found to be contaminated during investigations for the construction of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and under the former Labor Government, South Australian taxpayers had to pay $69 million to settle legal claims for delays, modifications and unexpected remediation work due to the contamination.
"We're pleased that this project won't suffer the same fate. These soil conditions are as expected based on regional geology and allow us to enter the next step in creating a world-class facility for South Australian families that will deliver better healthcare, closer to home.
"During this extensive planning process, we are continuing to achieve exceptional levels of consultation - almost 1,000 hours have been contributed by more than 580 clinicians, 110 other staff and 35 consumers so far.
"We are looking forward to delivering a state-of-the-art facility that will continue to provide high quality services to our patients and their families for many years to come."
During the soil testing, about 80 samples were extracted using a large drill rig to bore 100mm holes up to 50 metres down into the earth across three areas:
- The main nWCH site adjacent to the RAH
- The Rail Triangle to the north of the main site; and
- The Gaol Road Reserve to the west of the main site
SA Health's Executive Director of Infrastructure, Brendan Hewitt, said some residual soil contamination of heavy metals and hydrocarbons were found to be present at the sites.
"This contamination is owing to the former rail yards and naturally occurring substances. It is nothing outside of what we were already aware of and is consistent with the findings during the RAH planning process," Mr Hewitt said.
"Given the low concentrations, historical restrictions on groundwater extraction, and the low likelihood of encountering groundwater during construction activity, the risks to human and ecological health are considered low.
"As the project prepares for on-site site enabling work, construction environmental management plans and groundwater management plans will be developed to ensure that any potential human health and environmental risks are safely managed or mitigated.
"Some further minor works will need to be carried out to provide a full picture but at this stage we are confident the low levels of contamination can be adequately managed."
The project is also preparing a Cultural Heritage Management plan to ensure that any discoveries of cultural significance are sensitively and respectfully treated.
