The (CLARINET) “Risk based Land Management” principles and their practical usefulness for making progress in brownfields redevelopment: an analysis in the context of the Walloon region, Belgium

Dr. Ing. Henri Halen is a senior expert consultant in soil quality and contaminated land management and invited Professor at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium). He is leading the Brownfield Academy (Belgium), a participatory network of professionals and stakeholders involved in sustainable brownfield redevelopment, land planning and construction sectors, who are motivated by the ambition to convert (potentially) polluted land into new territorial opportunities. Between 1998 and 2009, he oversaw the Service of Soil Expertise at the Société Publique d'Aide à la Qualité de l'Environnement (SPAQuE) in Wallonia (Belgium). In this role, he set up and coordinated the working groups for the establishment of the Walloon soil decree on the remediation of polluted sites, piloted the work for the development of technical standards on soil quality, and established the first risk assessment procedures in Wallonia as part of the management of polluted sites. Dr. Ing. Henri Halen represented the interests of the Walloon Region in international expert groups on soil pollution (e.g., the Common Forum network, ICCL - International Committee on Contaminated Land, HERACLES, NICOLE). He also led (2004- 2008), in coordination with the Brussels Environmental Administration (Bruxelles Environnement) and the Ministry of the Environment in Quebec, the ADTC partnership project for "Sustainable Remediation of Contaminated Land in Wallonia, Brussels and Quebec". Since 2009, he is leading Ram-Ses SRL, an international consultancy firm specialized in human health and environmental risk assessment and data interpretation related to soil (polluted soils, excavated soil and sediments), water and air pollution. Dr. Ing. Henri Halen has directly been involved in the implementation of soil legislations and risk assessment procedures in Wallonia, in Brussels and currently in Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. For the latter, Dr. Ing. Henri Halen assists the Environment Agency in the development of the technical reference framework required for the operation of the future law on soil protection and management of polluted sites, including the work for the definition of soil and groundwater quality standards and the development of risk assessment procedures.