Police Shooting Range Gänziloo

The Zurich City Police operate the Gänziloo police shooting range on the Albisgüetli, which has three bullet traps. Over the years, these bullet traps have become heavily contaminated with projectiles and pollutants, particularly lead. Lead is a toxic heavy metal that accumulates in the soil and can cause serious environmental and health damage. Due to this contamination, the bullet traps were categorised as being in need of restoration. Restoration is necessary to protect the soil and ensure that the shooting range meets modern environmental standards. 

The specified restoration target was to reduce the lead content to a maximum of 1000 mg/kg. This measure was not only necessary for environmental reasons, but also due to an official requirement of the Canton of Zurich. This requires that all shooting ranges that continue to be operated after 2020 must be equipped with an emission-free bullet trap. In order to ensure the continued operation of the Gänziloo police shooting range, it was therefore necessary to improve the bullet traps.

Gruner's work comprised a range of services covering several aspects of the restoration. A renovation project was developed, including a procedure and disposal concept. The excavation was also accompanied by technical experts.

During the actual restoration work, we provided technical support for the excavation process. This involved the use of mXRF-based triage, which made it possible to precisely classify the excavated material. The use of mXRF technology, supplemented by analyses of the contaminant content in the soil, confirmed the success of the remediation work. We also handled the communication with the waste disposal company and the relevant authorities.

The uninterrupted shooting training of the Zurich city police had to be guaranteed during the construction work. This was made possible by construction measures such as temporary screens on the tops of the embankments between the shooting ranges and trenchless tunnelling of the drainage pipe. This ensured the ongoing operation of the shooting ranges. In addition, close cooperation with the Infrastructure Basel business unit and the Environment business unit was crucial in order to meet the tight schedule. Thanks to this interdisciplinary collaboration, both the construction work and the requirements of the city police were successfully realised.

At the end of the project, final documentation was drawn up describing all the key work steps and results. In addition, we submitted the application for compensation in accordance with the Ordinance on the Levy for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites (VASA) to ensure that the financial support was granted in good time. At the same time, all the necessary documents were compiled for the cost allocation procedure in accordance with USG Art. 32d.

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