Contents

1.0 Introduction

1.0.1 What is brown-field project?

1.0.2 What is green-field?

2.0 Features of Brown field project

2.0.1 Engineering & Design

2.0.2 Organizing

2.0.3 Coordination

2.0.4 Materials Management

2.0.5 Shut-down planning

2.0.6 Capital Repairs during Modernization

2.0.7 Construction Management

3.0 Brown field project in United States

4.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction:-
1.0.1 What is Brown field project?

The term ‘Brown field’ has many definitions, they all are
same in meaning but the presentation of the term is in different
manner. ‘...land previously used for industrial purposes, or
certain commercial uses, and that may be contaminated by
low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution and
has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up’. If we
translate into software term then ‘...project or codebase that
was previously created and may be infected with poor
practices, structure, implementations and moral but has
the potential to be revived through comprehensive and
directed refactoring’. At last we can say that Brownfield is
abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities
available for re-use.

A project implemented in the precincts of a working plant or

working facility is a brown-field project (BFP). Revamping,
retrofitting, technology upgradation, replacement, rehabilitation
reconstruction, modernization etc come under the category of
BFPs.

The most common BFP is the modernization or partial

renovation of a running plant. The most important success criteria
of a BFP are:

• Minimum obstruction to production operations, caused by

plant shutdowns and supply disruptions.
• Successful new construction.
• Minimum damage to the existing installations.
• Perfect tie-in and matching of the new facilities with the
existing ones.
 In the United States city planning jargon, Brownfield land (or
simply a Brownfield) is land previously used for industrial
purposes or certain commercial uses. The land may be
contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or
pollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up.
Land that is more severely contaminated and has high
concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, such as a
Superfund site, does not fall under the Brownfield classification.

1.0.2 What is Greenfield?

A common term in software development is 'Greenfield'.

The term is commonly used to describe a project that is starting
completely from scratch and thus having no existing code base.
One of the terms that is often used to describe code that exists is
'legacy'. Unfortunately the term 'legacy' has connotations that
lead people to think about applications that have out lived the life
of the technology that they were implemented with and no longer
are being actively developed. For some people this will make
them think of mainframe, green screen, COBOL, FORTRAN and
other technologies. Because our minds tend to sway to distant
applications and technologies like this, we create a gap between
Greenfield and legacy where the technology is either relevant, or
nearly relevant, and the application is under active development.
Applications like this are something that we regularly see in the
industry. More often than not, when you're hired onto a project,
either as an employee or a contractor/consultant, you will be
stepping into a project that is already under development. How
do you describe that project to your mates? It's certainly not
Greenfield and if you mention 'legacy' people will ask you how
you ended up working on mainframes. Neither do the situation
justice.
2.0 Features of BFP :-( Brown field project)

2.0.1 Engineering and Design:-

Project Engineering (PE) scope describes below:

• Layout of the new facilities with perfect integration into

the existing facilities, with dovetailing correlation.
• Relocation and rerouting of existing utilities and services
lines as may be necessary.
• Minimum use of ground space, minimizing horizontal
layouts, and keeping in mind the possibility of future
expansion.
• Correction of any defect in the layout of the existing
facilities or service lines.
• Minimum obstruction to the plant operation during
construction.
• Perfect matching to the new process technology used in
new facilities with the existing one.
• Standardization of raw materials, feedstock, spares and
maintenance machinery.

In BFPs, the engineering department has the additional

responsibility of supplying information on the existing
underground installations and service lines to facilitate diversion
and digging for civil works.

Planning:-

BFP planning should take care of the following additional aspects:

• Site clearance to locate the new facilities.

• Relocation of displaced storage yards, dumping ground
and/or other installations.
 • Rerouting of service line.
• Dismantling of equipment and installations to be refurbished
or replaced.
• Protection of underground and overground installations
during dismantling.
• Cleaning and rectification of the dismantled equipment and
their refurbishing.
• Carting away debris, and site clearance.
• Dumping of debris.
• Stacking of reusable equipment and materials.
• Refurbishing facilities.
• Operation of production units during construction.
• Shut downs.

Planning of these aspects calls for considerable experience and

imagination. Any shortcoming in planning can have serious
consequences both on the operation of the existing production
faculties and the construction activities. The planner of BFP has to
work within several limitations as he is required to fit the new
construction into an operating plant, within the available space,
with minimum obstruction and damage.

2.0.2 Organizing:-

The project team in a BFP has to necessarily include the

operation and maintenance personnel representing the various
production segments affected by the project. The project team for
BFP and plant relocation project (PRP) must be formed before the
start of engineering and design itself.

The project organization that is built for BFPs should be

capable of understanding the basis requirements of a plant
continuing its production operations in the midst of construction
activities and handling the additional activities involved in them.

2.0.3 Coordination:-

Conflicts between the O&M (Operation and maintenance)

personnel are common in BFPs. The success of project
management in BFP would, therefore, depend a great deal on the
PM’s (Project management) capability to handle conflicts.
Although the concept of and integrated project team organization
can reduce conflicts. A BFP demands a tremendous amount of
coordination among the departments of production, maintenance,
services and utilities, engineering and project construction.
Coordination should be a vital responsibility of the project team
which is represented by all the departments concerned. It must
be remembered that rivalry between O&M and construction
personnel in a BFP can strangle the production and also make the
construction project fail.

2.0.4 Materials Management:-

In BFPs, as well as in Plant relocation projects (PRP), the

procurement and fabrication would depend greatly on the extent
of reusable old equipment and materials. The technology
employed in the modernization and the newly added facilities will
determine the use of existing critical equipment. So planning for
procurement should start with: (1) evaluation of the suitability of
the existing equipment with the new technology, (2) assessment
of the usability of the equipment and materials, and (3)
identification and listing of the parts to be purchased/fabricated
and those to be rectified/modified/refurbished. This assessment is
to be done in three stages namely, (I) while considering the
technology, (II) on inspection of the existing plant before
dismantling and (III) after dismantling.
2.0.5 Shut-down planning:-

It is usual that during modernization activities, production

operations and services continue in vital industrial and
infrastructural plants and facilities. For example, a major steel
plant cannot be totally shut down for 3-4 years to modernize or
renovate a few sections or segments or add some more facilities.
Only essential minimum shut-downs shall be taken to facilitate
construction, so that production loss is kept to the minimum and
movement of goods continues.

There are two categories of shut-downs-one, a temporary

shut-down to facilitate some construction activity and the other,
the permanent shut-down of a unit to dismantle and rebuild the
unit itself. Shut-down planning shall cover production units, traffic
movements, power and water supply and other utilities. This
planning should be done jointly by the representatives of all the
departments concerned, using a meticulously calendar-time-
phased network, with perfect coordination and communication
among the members of the project team.

2.0.6 Capital Repairs during Modernization:-

When plant unit is scheduled to be shut down permanently

for modernization in the near future, it is usual to operate it with
only the routine running maintenance, without any expensive
capital repair. But, if the schedule goes haywire and the shut-
down is delayed, the unit’s efficiency will dwindle without capital
repairs, and thus, its operation will become expensive with
diminishing output. This is a vital point which should engage the
planner’s and executing team’s attention. A capital repair just
before a permanent shut-down can prove to be wastage. The
solution to this problem is strict control on shut-down schedules
and construction schedule.

2.0.7 Construction Management:-

Construction Management (CM) practices in both GFPs and

BFPs are basically the same. But the nuances of a brown-field
project will have a significant influence on every aspect of CM in a
BFP. What is required to be done to face them is to prepare a
checklist of all CM activities, study each of them with references
to the practices and requirements of the operating units and the
constraints of the brown-field, and then modify their modus
operandi so that they can be accommodated despite the
constraints in the activities. CM can benefit from the existing
organization and management practices which can simultaneously
serve both the production and construction activities. The total
requirements of the modernization project’s resources and CM
practices shall be listed out and compared with what is existing,
to identify what parts of the existing organization, infrastructure,
capital equipment, maintenance facilities, communication
network, general office services, systems and procedures, office
equipment, logistic arrangements, insurance and risk
management, legal aid, etc., can be made use of economically in
the construction. After such identification, the project team shall
approach the top management and get the necessary executive
orders issued, so that various heads of departments throw open
their doors to the team to avail of the required resources and
services. A few aspects which need particular attention in the
management of a BFP construction are below.
Safety

Employees, third parties, construction equipment, and

existing installations are more susceptible to accidents in a BFP
than in a GFP, because of congestion and simultaneous multiple
operations. Production, dismantling and construction, all taking
place side by side, with all the related work operations, traffic
movements and services, would increase the chances of
accidents. All these dangers can be averted only through
intensives training in safety practices, actual implementation of
safety codes, and vigilant supervision. The total team has to be
conscious of this requirement. Top management must include
safety in the list of matters needing topmost attention.

Security

The presence of numerous construction workers in the plant

precincts and hundreds of vehicles of all categories plying in and
out would be a potential threat to the security of the plant and
the enterprise’s goods and personnel. Controlling the entry and
exit of a few thousands more men than usual in the operating
plant, keeping watch on their movements and behavior in the
plant area, checking the documents and contents of each and
every vehicle, documenting the goods brought in and taken out,
including debris and scrap of the dismantled units and excavated
earth, and ensuring the security of the installations and the
owner’s movable properties is a challenging task to be handled
with considerable intelligence and care, in a BFP situation.

Environmental care
 Dumping of dismantled debris, plying of numerous vehicles,
movement of wagons, obstruction and defacements caused by
congestions and diversions, housing and sanitation needs of the
construction work force temporarily brought in, etc., would pose
threats to the environment. To protect the environment form
these threats, the designers and planners must do the necessary
planning for environmental protection sufficiently in advance in
the threatened area.

Welfare

Welfare facilities built inside the plant would suddenly face

an enormously enlarged demand with the influx of the
construction work force. Facilities like washing area, urinals and
lavatories, drinking water supply, canteens, resting places, first-
aid centers, hospital, bicycle parking place, crèche, etc., would
come under the strain of such a demand. The project planner
have to take necessary measures sufficiently in advance to
supplement the facilities suitably so that the existing O&M
employees do not become discontented, and at the same time,
the construction men get at least the minimum facilities at the
site.

3.0 BFP in United States:-

Brown-fields are abandoned or underused industrial and

commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or
redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or
perceived environmental contaminations.

In the United States city planning jargon, Brownfield land

(or simply a Brownfield) is land previously used for industrial
purposes or certain commercial uses. The land may be
contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or
pollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up.
Land that is more severely contaminated and has high
concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, such as a
Superfund site, does not fall under the Brownfield classification.
Mothballed brown fields are properties which the owners are not
willing to transfer or put to productive reuse.

3.0.1 Innovative redevelopment strategies:-

A number of innovative financial and remediation techniques

have been used in the U.S. in recent years to expedite the
cleanup of Brownfield sites. For example, some environmental
firms have teamed up with insurance companies to underwrite
the cleanup of distressed Brownfield properties and provide a
guaranteed cleanup cost for a specific Brownfield property, to
limit land developers' exposure to environmental remediation
costs and pollution lawsuits. The environmental firm first
performs an extensive investigation of the Brownfield site to
ensure that the guaranteed cleanup cost is reasonable and they
will not wind up with any surprises.

After the dot-com bubble of 2000, many venture capital

firms looking for new businesses in which to invest have done so
in brown fields. Venture capital investments in Brownfield-related
businesses have included companies developing new cleanup
technology, companies that do remediation, and development
projects in Brownfield lands.

Innovative remedial techniques used at distressed brown

fields in recent years include bioremediation, a remedial strategy
that uses naturally occurring microbes in soils and groundwater to
expedite a cleanup, and in-situ oxidation, which is a remedial
strategy that uses oxygen or oxidant chemicals to enhance a
cleanup. Often, these strategies are used in conjunction with each
other or with other remedial strategies such as soil vapor
extraction. In this process, vapor from the soil phase is extracted
from soils and treated, which has the effect of removing
contaminants from the soils and groundwater beneath a site.
Some brown fields with heavy metal contamination have even
been cleaned up through an innovative approach called
phytoremediation that uses deep-rooted plants to soak up metals
in soils into the plant structure as the plant grows. After they
reach maturity, the plants – which now contain the heavy metal
contaminants in their tissues – are removed and disposed of as
hazardous waste.

Research is under way to see if some brown fields can be

used to grow crops, specifically for the production of bio fuels.
Michigan State University, in collaboration with DaimlerChrysler
and Next Energy, has small plots of soybean, corn, canola, and
switch grass growing in a former industrial dump site in Oakland
County, Michigan. The intent is to see if the plants can serve two
purposes simultaneously: assist with phytoremediation, and
contribute to the economical production of biodiesel and/or
ethanol fuel.

3.0.2 Post-redevelopment uses:-

Some state governments restrict development of Brownfield

sites to particular uses in order to minimize exposure to leftover
contaminants on-site after the cleanup is completed; such
properties are deed-restricted in their future usage. Some legally
require that such areas are reused for housing or for new
commercial use in order not to destroy further arable land. The
redevelopment of Brownfield sites is a significant part of new
urbanism. Some brown fields are left as green spaces for
recreational uses.

For historical reasons, many Brownfield sites are close to

important thoroughfares such as highways and rivers; their
reclamation can therefore be a major asset to a city. Portland,
Oregon, has pioneered the use of road and rail infrastructure to
support the cleanup and reuse of Brownfield sites. Another
example is the Atlantic Station project in Atlanta, the largest
Brownfield redevelopment in the United States.[ In Seattle, rusted
remains of a gas factory were left in place to add character to Gas
Works Park.

But one of the most well-known areas in the United States for
Brownfield redevelopment is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has
successfully converted numerous former steel mill sites into high-
end residential, shopping and offices. Several examples of
Brownfield redevelopment in Pittsburgh include the following:

• In Homestead, Pennsylvania, the site once occupied by

Carnegie Steel has been converted into a successful
commercial center, The Waterfront.
• In Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a former slag
dump for steel mills was turned into a $243 million
residential development called Summerset at Frick Park.
• In the South Side neighborhood, a former LTV Steel mill site
was transformed into Southside Works, a mixed-use
development that includes high-end entertainment, retail,
offices, and housing.
• In the Hazelwood (Pittsburgh) neighborhood, a former Jones
and Laughlin steel mill site was transformed into a $104
million office park called Pittsburgh Technology Center.
• In Herr's Island, a 42-acre (170,000 m2) island on the
western bank of the Allegheny River, a former rail stop for
 livestock and meatpacking were transformed into
Washington's Landing, a waterfront center for commerce,
manufacturing, recreation and upscale housing.

3.0.3 Regulation:-

In the United States, investigation and cleanup of Brownfield

sites is largely regulated by state environmental agencies in
cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Many of the most important provisions on liability relief are
contained in state codes that can differ significantly from state to
state. The EPA, together with local and national government, can
provide technical help and some funding for assessment and
cleanup of designated sites. They can also provide tax incentives
for cleanup that is not paid for outright; specifically, cleanup costs
are fully tax-deductible in the year they are incurred.

3.0.4 Barriers to redevelopment:-

Examples of brown fields that were redeveloped into productive
properties

Many contaminated Brownfield sites sit unused for decades

because the cost of cleaning them to safe standards is more than
the land would be worth after redevelopment. However,
redevelopment has become more common in the first decade of
the 21st century, as developable land grows less available in
highly populated areas. Also, the methods of studying
contaminated land have become more sophisticated and
established.

Many federal and state programs have been developed to

help developers interested in cleaning up Brownfield sites and
restoring them to practical uses. Some states and localities have
spent considerable money assessing the contamination on local
Brownfield sites, to quantify the cleanup costs in an effort to
move the redevelopment process forward.

In the process of cleaning contaminated Brownfield sites,

surprises are sometimes encountered, such as previously
unknown underground storage tanks, buried drums or buried
railroad tank cars containing wastes. When unexpected
circumstances arise, the cost for clean-up increases, and as a
result, the cleanup work may be delayed or stopped entirely. To
avoid unexpected contamination and increased costs, many
developers insist that a site be thoroughly investigated (via a
Phase II Site Investigation or Remedial Investigation) prior to
commencing remedial cleanup activities.

3.0.5 Valuation:-

Acquisition, adaptive re-uses, and disposal of a Brownfield

sites requires advanced and specialized appraisal analysis
techniques. For example, the highest and best use of the
Brownfield site may be affected by the contamination, both pre-
and post-remediation. Additionally, the value should take into
account residual stigma and potential for third-party liability.
Normal appraisal techniques frequently fail, and appraisers must
rely on more advanced techniques, such as contingent valuation,
case studies, or statistical analyses.

4.0 Summary:-

Management of a brown-field project in the precincts of an

operating plant calls for much more imagination, detailed
planning, meticulous; schedule control and integrated team work,
involving the operation, maintenance, engineering and
construction departments of the enterprise. Slippage in one
activity can lead to serious ripple impacts on many activities, with
adverse results. At the same time, a construction project inside
an operating plant complex has to face several constraints,
dependencies and hazards, many of which are not present in a
new or green field project (GFP). Therefore, the engineering,
planning and execution of a BFP have to be done with the
involvement of experienced executives from the various
functional departments, desirably those who have preciously
handled BFPs, and also by going into the lowest level of work
breakdown structure and working methods. The least production
loss, the fastest work completion, minimum damage to the
existing plant units and service lines, and perfect matching of the
functioning of the old and new facilities should be there among
the objectives of a BFP.

With the fast advancing technologies changes and rising cost

of equipment and materials, more and more of BFPs can be
expected to come up in INDIA, for modernizing production
technologies, improving product qualities, and raising productivity
and profitability. Environmental considerations also necessitate
plant modernization. Project economy will necessitate reusing
equipment to the maximum possible extent.