When a Phase I ESA is usually discussed

We cannot tell you whether you need an environmental site assessment. Nobody can tell you that from a map. What we can do is set out the situations in which one is commonly part of a transaction, so you know whether to raise it with your lender, your attorney and a consultant.

Situations where it commonly comes up

• Commercial acquisition with financing. Lenders frequently require one as a condition of closing, and increasingly on smaller deals than they used to.
• The buyer wants the statutory defences. The liability protections for a bona fide prospective purchaser depend on having conducted All Appropriate Inquiries before taking title.
• A historical record shows an industrial or fuel-handling use on or next to the site.
• Change of use. Turning a former workshop or filling station into housing, childcare or food use raises questions that buyers usually want answered before they commit.
• Neighbouring uses. Migration from an adjacent site is a normal part of the conversation, and historical maps show the neighbours as well as the site.

What a Phase I is, in one paragraph

An environmental professional reviews historical and regulatory records, walks the site, interviews people who know it, and reports whether there are recognised environmental conditions that warrant further work. It is a records and observation exercise: no sampling, no digging. Sampling is Phase II, and it is a separate scope with a separate price.

Cost calculator Former industrial use

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