Soil protection & contaminated site management

Contaminated sites and unexploded ordnance will continue to affect Germany as a real estate location for many decades to come.

The legal implications for polluters and owners go far beyond possible claims by authorities for remediation. Contaminated sites have been and continue to be a classic deal breaker in the context of company sales and property transactions. Scientific findings and increasingly accurate analysis methods are also leading to new groups of substances (e.g. PFCs) becoming the focus of contaminated site assessments and remediation.

We have decades of experience in advising on soil protection and contaminated site management. We defend against unlawful claims by authorities, negotiate goal-oriented public law remediation agreements and draft tailor-made environmental and contaminated site clauses for company and property purchase agreements. We also have particular expertise in exemption procedures in the new federal states and in advising on initial and final status reports (AZB and EZB) at the interface with emission control law.

Please also refer to our case law report on contaminated site management.