Contamination presents a variety of opportunities and threats for those in the property development, investment and management professions and for those owning and using properties. An appreciation of the problems which contamination may present necessitates an understanding of relevant environmental legislation, the chemical and physical attributes of contamination and of the associated risks that contamination may bring. However, in addition to this, as Syms maintains, it is vital to consider the economic and valuation issues relative to the redevelopment of contaminated land. Previous UK research indicated that, in many instances, property professionals did not have the necessary legislative and environmental knowledge to advise in relation to contaminated property or, indeed, how to seek appropriate advice from other environmental professionals. This publication therefore attempts to redress this balance.
The book combines factual details concerning legislation and contamination, advice and guidance on identifying and treating contamination, the results of the author′s own research relating to risk perception and “real life” case studies to indicate how contamination and redevelopment problems may be overcome in practice. In terms of format, the book is divided into four sections, each containing a number of chapters. The majority of these chapters end with “Checklists” that summarise key issues, outline how the information imparted may be usefully applied by practitioners and, more specifically, what questions may need to be asked.
The four sections of the book are:
(1) Background;
(2) Technical issues;
(3) Valuation and redevelopment issues; and
(4) Satisfying users and regulators.
The background section outlines the origin of the contamination problem and describes how contamination is caused and affects humans and their environment. This section is a very useful summary, presents definitions of the key terms and describes how contamination issues are important in the context of property. A final chapter in this section details relevant environmental legislation. Unfortunately, some of this material has been rendered out of date, as supplementary Statutory Guidance had not been issued in final format at the date of publication. This guidance is now due to be published in the summer of 1999. However, the underlying concepts and principles relative to UK environmental law, as depicted in this chapter, still apply.
“Technical Issues” first comprises practical chapters on locating and identifying contamination and means of treating contaminated soil. Two further chapters in this section detail some of the author′s own research concerning risk perception and the determination of risk. The results make very interesting reading; however, this reviewer would question the positioning of these two chapters within a “Technical Issues” section.
In the section on valuation and redevelopment issues, the author presents his own model for the valuation of contaminated land and the assessment of associated “stigma”. Stigma can be defined as “the value impact of environmentally‐related uncertainties” (Patchin, 1991). Syms′ model is effectively an amalgamation of the valuation approaches developed by Patchin, a US appraisal specialist, and the author′s own risk‐based research. Syms then demonstrates how the model can be used in practice by applying it to a number of case study examples. Time and a commensurate increase in the number of property transactions affected by contamination will reveal how accurate Syms′ model actually is in practice.
The final, shortest section considers how to satisfy users and regulators when acquiring and disposing of properties affected by contamination. The major topics covered here include the principle of caveat emptor and environmental insurance. The conclusions and recommendations of the book consider the implications of contaminated land and Syms′ own research for valuers, developers and government policy. Syms′ parting recommendation is that a way of dealing with problems of valuing contaminated land is to establish some form of valuation databank of properties affected by contamination. Although such a databank would greatly assist the valuation of contaminated property, Syms acknowledges there may be great difficulty in actually implementing one due to the confidentiality that frequently surrounds transactions in the UK property market.
In conclusion, this text is a very useful reference manual for practitioners and a useful general text/introduction for academics and students. The user‐friendliness of the book has been enhanced by virtue of the case studies and checklists it contains. It is one of the few publications available that combines details on the physical, legal and economic issues relative to contaminated land.
