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The United Kingdom has an abundance of brownfield sites which can play a pivotal role in addressing the ever growing crisis of supply in the housing sector. However, many otherwise attractive sites are afflicted by the legacy pollutants of former industrial activities. Historically, contaminated land has been viewed as an issue which can only be addressed in the bluntest of ways. A contaminant is present, therefore risk is present, and developers either seek remediation or choose to build on a greenfield alternative. The result is an approach that sees brownfield land as a burden rather than opportunity. This project aims to explore other approaches. Bioaccessibility is increasingly being seen as a viable method for assessing contaminant risk in humans, as part of an approach that is more physiologically relevant and less conservative than traditional methods, with methods such as the Unified Bioaccessibility Method (UBM), human gastrointestinal based bioaccessibility extraction method, gaining increasing traction and acceptance as a viable testing method for the determination of bioaccessibility in inorganics such Arsenic, Lead, Zinc and Cadmium. However, currently no standard method exists for the determination of bioaccessibility in organic contaminants, despite the development of several methodologies designed to assess bioaccessibility in these compounds. In the following thesis, oral bioaccessibility in PCBs is assessed using the FOREhST (Fed ORganic Estimation human Simulation Test) and CE-PBET (Colon Extended Physiologically Based Extraction Test) methods in 34 industrially contaminated soils. ∑ ICES 7 (the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea designated indicator congeners) bioaccessibility was recorded as 39.63% using the FOREhST method, though it was found that PCB 180 was consistently underestimated due to a saponification step included in the protocol. CE-PBET resulted in a significantly lower ∑ ICES 7 bioaccessibility of 15.21%. Although results varied, both methods demonstrated that the total contaminant approach is overly-conservative in the assessment of PCB contaminated soils. As part of the thesis, a survey of PCB concentrations in the urban soils Central London was completed. The survey demonstrated low background levels of PCBs (15.1 µg/kg) dominated by isolated hotspots of elevated concentration (148.7 µg/kg), which may be attributed to re-emission events.

This theory-building case study conceptualizes organization sensemaking using minimal structures. Inductive grounded theory methodology is employed to develop an explanation of the minimal structures as improvised spatial frames, rather than static rules, and understand their contribution to strategic management activities. My study also considers new aspects of the structure and agency relationship in relation to spatial values constructs, and explores an enhanced understanding of how people derive personal meaning from strategies. Despite the acknowledged importance of organization structure and agency in conducting strategic management, there are very few field studies focusing on agent-based improvisation and the meaning of strategy in practice. I place a particular emphasis on the interpretative practices of actors revealed in their spatial orientation to strategy from the perspectives of cognitive frames, values, and a personal sense of place. These attributes and others suggest strategy adoption may be accelerated with consideration of the spatiality of strategy. In the completion of the dissertation I attempt to partially fill this research gap by examining new attributes of minimal structures. Through an iterative discourse with the case study data and cross-disciplinary extant literature, I produce theoretical propositions and substantive middle-range theory supporting a cognitive spatial turn in the Strategy as Practice research perspective.

The Devensian Lateglacial and early Flandrian stratigraphy of southern Snowdonia, North Wales has been examined using pollen analytical, radiocarbon dating and geomorphological mapping techniques. These techniques were used to reconstruct the effects and timing of environmental changes on the Lateglacial and early Flandrian vegetation and landscape. Detailed geomorphological mapping enabled the reconstruction of former "cwm" glaciers and snowpatches of inferred Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial age. These former glaciers were small and extremely localised, their distribution being influenced by altitude, aspect and snowdrift A local equilibrium fim line of 600 m OD was estimated from former glaciers on Cader Idris and used to infer a mean July temperature of 8.5 ' C at sea-level during the Stadial. Pollen analyses of three mire sites located outside the former ice limits and three upland lake sites from inside the limits helped to corroborate a Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial age for the "cwm" glaciation. Logistical problems of sampling upland lake sites were overcome by the innovative use of sub-aqua divers. An exceptionally thick sequence of Lateglacial and early Flandrian organic-rich sediments was discovered at Llyn Gweman and provided a particularly high degree of stratigraphic resolution for radiocarbon dating vegetational changes and other environmental events. Late Devensian ice was shown to have abandoned the Llyn Gwernan site before ca.13,200 BP at which time the landscape was rapidly colonised by a pioneer vegetation in which Rumex was prominent. Juniper spread into the area at ca.13,000 BP and was succeeded by the expansion of birch woodland at ca.12,100 BP. Gradual climatic deterioration was inferred from this time onward, culminating in the revertence to a tundra-like environment during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial, hereby dated to between ca.11,200 BP and 10,000 BP. The climate improved at around 10,000 BP and vegetational succession progressed from herb-rich grassland, through expansion phases for juniper, willow, birch and eventually hazel at ca.9,100 BP.