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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (March 13, 2018) — A project to decommission, demolish and clean up the site of an idled fertilizer plant within nine months, saving $2 million in the process, is being honored among the year’s best engineering projects in Nebraska.

The project, Integration of RCRA Corrective Action with Facility Demolition for Loveland Products, is a winner of a Merit Award in the Environmental category from the Nebraska chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies. The chapter presented its 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards last month.

Judges honored the team for its coordinated, efficient and effective approach that cleaned up a former Loveland Products site in Fairbury, Nebraska. The $5.8 million project included a full range of decommissioning, demolition and environmental remediation activities, using an integrated approach that accelerated overall restoration. Among its key components was securing regulatory approval for on-site treatment of impacted soil. That allowed soil classified as hazardous material to be stabilized at the site, using Portland cement, so that it could be removed as nonhazardous waste instead.

“The team was able to condense the remediation period to under nine months and save the client $2 million,” says Diana Marquez, project manager for Burns & McDonnell. “Working closely with Loveland Products, our integrated approach allowed us to conduct environmental investigations during demolition, and allowed enough flexibility to meet time and budget constraints. And we did it all while an adjacent production facility remained in full operation.”

Loveland Products had acquired the former micronutrient dry fertilizer facility in 2014. The site had been under EPA and state regulatory oversight since the 1980s, and Loveland Products engaged Burns & McDonnell to address remaining regulatory issues and prepare the site for redevelopment. 

Other Burns & McDonnell projects winning Engineering Excellence Awards this year from ACEC chapters: Big Canyon Environmental Restoration Project (Honor Award, California), DISA Global Operations Headquarters (Special Achievement Award, Illinois), Stillwater Energy Center Reciprocating Engine Project (Honor Award, Oklahoma), Union Station Kansas City Westward Expansion (Grand Award, Missouri), and West Blue River Interceptor (Honor Award, Missouri).

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune’s 2018 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.