A distinct division — serving Alberta province-wide
Environmental Consulting & Site Assessment in Alberta
Site assessment, subsurface investigation, biological monitoring, and management systems for landowners, developers, and resource-sector operators. This division works on land, water, and ecosystems — separate from the building-focused abatement practice.
- Phase I & II ESA
- Hydrogeology
- Tailings monitoring
- Wildlife surveys
- GIS & remote sensing
- ISO 14001
A separate division
Makki is known in Calgary for hazardous materials work inside buildings. This division does something different: it assesses land, groundwater, surface water, and ecosystems, for clients whose obligations arise from a property transaction, a regulator, or a project approval rather than from a renovation.
The distinction is worth stating plainly, because the two are easily confused. A building assessment asks what materials a structure contains. A site assessment asks what is in the ground beneath it and where that is moving. Different disciplines, different personnel, different regulatory frameworks — occasionally running on the same property during a redevelopment, but never the same scope of work.
Water & ground investigation
Establishing what is in the subsurface and how it moves. This is site characterisation work — the question is the condition of soil and groundwater across a property, which is a different discipline from assessing the materials inside a building.
Soil and water sampling
Borehole programmes, test pits, and monitoring well installation, with soil and groundwater analysed against Alberta Tier 1 and Tier 2 guidelines. Sampling density and depth are set by site history and the receptors that could be affected, not by a standard template.
Hydrogeology
Aquifer characterisation, groundwater flow direction and gradient, contaminant transport modelling, and monitoring network design. Where a plume exists, this is the work that establishes where it is going and how fast.
Hydrology
Surface water assessment, drainage and catchment analysis, watercourse crossings, and stormwater management review — including the seasonal extremes that define Alberta runoff behaviour.
Tailings & containment
Containment structures fail slowly and then suddenly. Monitoring exists to detect the slow part.
Tailings management
Seepage monitoring, water quality programmes around containment structures, groundwater monitoring networks down-gradient of impoundments, and reclamation planning. Programmes are designed around the specific failure modes a structure is exposed to rather than a generic checklist.
Biological monitoring
Alberta project schedules are shaped by wildlife timing windows more than most proponents expect at the outset. Getting the survey calendar wrong can cost a full construction season.
Bird monitoring
Migratory bird nest sweeps ahead of clearing, breeding bird surveys, and nest search and buffer establishment within the restricted activity periods that apply under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. Sweeps have a limited validity window, so they are scheduled tightly against the clearing date.
Fish and wildlife
Aquatic habitat assessment, fish salvage ahead of in-stream work, wildlife sweeps and denning surveys, and species-at-risk screening against provincial and federal listings. Where a watercourse is involved, restricted activity periods drive the schedule.
Mapping & remote sensing
Spatial data underpins every other discipline on this page.
GIS and remote sensing
Spatial analysis, historical aerial photograph interpretation, change detection, drone imagery capture, and constraint mapping. Historical air photo review frequently establishes a site's disturbance history faster and more cheaply than any field programme.
Assessment & remediation
The core transactional and regulatory work, and the reason most clients make first contact.
Environmental site assessment
Phase I assessments covering records review, historical land use, regulatory database search, and site reconnaissance. Phase II programmes where a Phase I identifies potential concerns, with intrusive investigation and laboratory analysis against provincial guidelines.
Environmental impact assessment
Baseline studies, effects prediction, mitigation design, and regulatory submissions for projects requiring provincial or federal review.
Remediation and reclamation
Remedial option evaluation, remedial action planning, oversight during implementation, confirmatory sampling, and closure documentation through to regulatory sign-off.
Management systems
Turning environmental performance into something a client can audit and demonstrate.
ISO 14001 implementation
Gap analysis against the standard, aspects and impacts registers, objective and target setting, documentation architecture, internal audit programmes, and support through certification. Most organisations already do much of what the standard requires — the work is usually structuring and evidencing it rather than building it from nothing.
Alberta regulatory context
Which regulator applies is rarely obvious at the outset, and getting it wrong at scoping is expensive. Contaminated sites generally fall under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, administered by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, with remediation measured against the Alberta Tier 1 and Tier 2 soil and groundwater remediation guidelines. Upstream oil and gas sites fall to the Alberta Energy Regulator instead, under a separate closure framework.
Federal legislation layers on top of both. The Migratory Birds Convention Act governs the restricted activity periods that shape clearing schedules, the Fisheries Act applies to in-stream and near-water work, and the Species at Risk Act adds screening obligations where listed species may be present.
Establishing which framework governs a site is the first hour of any engagement, and it determines everything downstream — sampling density, laboratory methods, reporting format, and who ultimately signs off.
Sequencing against a project schedule
The most expensive mistakes on environmental programmes are scheduling mistakes rather than technical ones. Three constraints govern almost every Alberta project, and they do not move:
- Biological timing windows. Restricted activity periods for nesting birds and for in-stream work are set by species and region, and they close for months at a time. A clearing programme that misses its window waits for the next one — frequently a full season. Survey validity is also time-limited, so a sweep completed too early has to be repeated.
- Frost and site access. Drilling programmes and test pitting are shaped by ground conditions. Winter access is easier on muskeg and harder on frozen overburden; spring breakup closes some sites entirely. Groundwater monitoring also needs to account for seasonal fluctuation, which means a single round rarely tells the whole story.
- Transaction and approval deadlines. A Phase I commissioned after conditions are waived has no negotiating value. A Phase II started when financing is already committed removes the option of walking away. Both are worth more earlier than they cost.
We establish these constraints during scoping rather than discovering them mid-programme, and say plainly when a requested schedule is not achievable. The specific windows that apply to a site depend on its location, the species present, and the regulator — so they are confirmed at scoping rather than assumed.
Who commissions this work
Purchasers and lenders
Commercial and industrial property transactions where a Phase I is a financing condition, or where a known site history warrants intrusive investigation before closing.
Developers and municipalities
Redevelopment of former industrial land, land use redesignation, and brownfield projects requiring remediation and closure before construction can proceed.
Resource-sector operators
Ongoing monitoring obligations, containment structure programmes, reclamation planning, and closure submissions under the applicable regulatory framework.
Project proponents
Linear and site developments requiring baseline studies, wildlife surveys, and impact assessment ahead of provincial or federal approval.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a Phase I and a Phase II ESA?
A Phase I environmental site assessment is a records and interview exercise — historical land use, aerial photography, regulatory databases, and a site reconnaissance — producing an opinion on whether contamination is likely. It involves no sampling. A Phase II tests that opinion by drilling, sampling soil and groundwater, and analysing against Alberta Tier 1 and Tier 2 guidelines.
When is an environmental site assessment required?
Most commonly during commercial property transactions, when a lender requires one as a condition of financing, ahead of a land use redesignation, and when regulatory closure is sought on a site with a history of industrial activity. Timing matters — a Phase I commissioned after an offer is firm has limited negotiating value.
How long does a Phase II take?
Field programmes are typically two to five days depending on site size and the number of boreholes or monitoring wells required. Laboratory analysis adds one to two weeks. Where a transaction deadline is driving the schedule, tell us at scoping and we will structure the programme around it.
Do you handle regulatory submissions?
We prepare submissions to Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and to the Alberta Energy Regulator where the site falls under their jurisdiction, including remedial action plans and closure documentation. Which regulator applies depends on site history, and establishing that is part of the scoping conversation.
Is this the same team as the abatement division?
No. Environmental consulting operates as a separate division with its own field and technical personnel. The disciplines overlap only occasionally — for example where a building assessment and a site assessment run on the same property during a redevelopment.
Where the divisions meet
Redevelopment projects occasionally need both. A site assessment establishes the condition of the ground while a separate building assessment establishes what the structure contains — two scopes, one property.
- Hazmat testing — the building-side equivalent, covering the regulated substances inside a structure ahead of demolition.
- Industrial hygiene consulting — worker exposure assessment where operations are ongoing.
Serving Alberta province-wide
Scope an environmental programme
Send the site location, its history, and what is driving the requirement — a transaction, a regulator, or a project approval — and we will propose a programme matched to the framework that governs it.
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