Comprehensive response and remediation: Our award-winning major incident management

Published: 11 November 2024

Major incidents often require us to push the boundaries of our knowledge and capabilities, harnessing the skills and experience of our teams and experts to develop innovative solutions. The scale of the major fire at Luton Airport’s Terminal 2 car park on October 10th, 2023, presented our teams with multi-faceted environmental challenges where the client’s ability to maintain continuity of operations was also a critical requirement.

We’re delighted this innovative work earned us the prestigious "Inland Responder – Large Incident" award at the UK and Ireland Spill Awards.

The Challenge: An unprecedented incident

On 10 October 2023, flames ripped through London Luton Airport’s Terminal 2 multistorey car park. The blaze spread across several floors, damaging 1,352 cars and causing a partial structural collapse. An estimated 50,000 passengers were affected, and 273 flights were diverted, suspended, or cancelled.

The fire was declared a major incident, with more than 100 firefighters deployed to extinguish the flames. Adler & Allan were called upon to control the blaze’s potentially catastrophic environmental impact.

Responding with precision and expertise

Three days after the fire, Adler & Allan arrived on site to implement a targeted containment plan. Our first protocol was to isolate and prevent pollutants from entering the central soakaway. Speed was critical, as heavy rain was accelerating contamination runoff from the incident area.

Crews began by pinpointing key receptors and locating interceptors transporting surface water runoff from the car park and wider site. With immediate hazards identified, confined space specialists set to work installing a combination of physical isolations and over-pump systems to control rainwater flow.

Within two weeks, Adler & Allan had established a large-scale, purpose-built infrastructure capable of dealing with 780,000 litres of surface runoff.

Assessment, accuracy, and action

As part of Adler & Allan’s 360° project response, our qualified environmental consultants worked in tandem with onsite ground crews. Led by an experienced regional manager, teams performed soil, groundwater, and interceptor sampling to gain a full understanding of the incident and its aftereffects.

The ground investigation included rotary drilling into the chalk aquifer around the central soakaway, gauging if contamination had entered the groundwater. CCTV surveys identified drainage runs that could discharge to the central soakaway and further boreholes were positioned across the site, allowing for the recovery of soil samples to detect hydrocarbons and metals.

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New challenges, unique solutions

With effective investigation and containment programmes in place, our focus turned to managing, removing, and treating harmful liquids running from the site. From the outset, our environmental consultants had identified extremely high hydrocarbon levels. The challenge was to find a swift, robust, and cost-efficient solution to mitigate their effects.

After initially tankering contaminated water from the site, we installed a GAC (granular activated carbon) system featuring a network of weirs to eliminate both free-phase (floating) and dissolved hydrocarbons. This approach capably handled less invasive contaminants but spotlighted a more unique environmental challenge: heavy metals from scores of electric vehicle batteries.

Tackling contamination with innovation

To remove high-risk heavy metals, we opted for an innovative ion exchange method, using synthetic resins to strip dissolved free metals and metal complexes from the affected water.

Tapping into our trusted supply chain, we collaborated with specialist partners to create a custom blend of resins to target heavier metals. Over an eight-week period, we refined our treatment methodology to deliver the most beneficial results.

Expertise at every stage

Adler & Allan’s services extended from first response to forward planning, allowing Luton Airport to establish a viable temporary operational model and confidently map the route ahead.

We worked side-by-side with demolition crews to ensure the environmentally safe and successful dismantling of the fire-damaged car park. Our comprehensive plan underpinned the full 15-week demolition programme, providing support to:

Manage all surface water runoff risks.
Remove all fuel-related products and ignition sources from stranded vehicles.
Create a bunded area for efficient onward transport.

With the car park levelled, we undertook further site investigation around and beneath the site. This comprised extracting soil samples using shadow trial pits and window sample drilling and assessing contamination levels directly below the lot. Meanwhile, deeper holes around the car park’s perimeter evaluated groundwater pollution.

“Everybody at London Luton Airport, the Exec, and the Board are hugely supportive and grateful for all the work that Adler & Allan have done...”

Marc Wolman

Senior Programme Manager

Significant results and a safer way forward

Drawing on knowledge, experience, and creative thinking, Adler & Allan’s all-in-one solution proved that a single expert partner can deliver on every project requirement. Key impact points include:

Over 13.5 million litres of contaminated water managed, treated, and disposed of.
10.5 million litres of which was treated on site, removing the need for tankering and off-site disposal. This more sustainable approach offset the carbon from HGVs and reduced congestion on busy roads, as well as providing a cost saving to the client.
A customised ion exchange solution targeting a unique volume of metal contaminants from 1,300 cars.
A bespoke combination of weir systems, GAC, and ion exchange to successfully treat wastewater.
Installation and maintenance of suppression systems to prevent the spread of contaminants.
Investigation, assessment, and monitoring to effectively mitigate environmental risks.
Start-to-finish project services, from initial response to demolition and aftercare.
Ongoing engagement with the Environment Agency to develop strategic guidance for managing lithium batteries and associated incidents.

Adler & Allan’s swift, containment-focused response helped Luton Airport minimise environmental harm, maintain customer trust, and safeguard its market standing.

Senior Programme Manager Marc Wolman said "What has been so remarkable about our environmental response is that nothing has been too much for the team. Everything we've asked of them, they've delivered.

"Everybody at London Luton Airport, the Exec, and the Board are hugely supportive and grateful for all the work that Adler & Allan have done, which has massively contributed to our response. But not only that, to our reputation about how we've dealt with such a serious incident."