Over £180,000 fines and costs for polluting groundwater at Christchurch Hospital

The two contractors were sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on 12 January after earlier pleading guilty to an offence under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, which occurred during the re-development of Christchurch Hospital in Dorset.

Kier Construction were commissioned by The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to carry out re-development work at Christchurch Hospital in February 2012. KIER appointed BKP Waste Recycling Limited to drain and remove oil from an oil supply line in the hospital grounds.

Oil escaped from a poorly-made connection in the oil supply pipework, which failed during routine testing of heating systems at the Hospital in November 2014.

The groundwater was polluted with over 11,000 litres of diesel oil.

The case was brought by the Environment Agency at the end of a lengthy investigation that uncovered negligence on the part of both contractors.

Ian Withers of the Environment Agency said, “This pollution incident had the potential to cause serious harm to the environment and was entirely avoidable. The two companies failed to understand the extent of the work required and mitigate the risks. Construction companies must adhere to environmental permitting regulations to prevent their activities from affecting the local environment.”

KIER was fined £100,000 with £30,301 costs for polluting groundwater. BKP was fined £10,200 for the same offence with £42,851 costs.