More than a century after shipbuilding began at the old Yarrows site in Esquimalt and 18 years after the ship builder closed down, a multimillion-dollar environmental cleanup is almost complete.

The ultimate use for the 12-acre site, now part of CFB Esquimalt, has still to be determined.

"Our goal is just to make sure that if and when development happens in that area, the site does not have environmental limitations," said Graham Smith, base environment officer. He said the aim is to bring the site to government standards for industrial use.

A new wall now separates the sea and the land, and a gravel base tops the remediated portion of the site. Wells around the property allow underground conditions to be monitored.

"It really was a fix-up success story," said safety officer Duane Freeman, Department of National Defence project manager for the major cleanup work. Public Works and Government Services Canada issue tenders and manage contracts on behalf of DND, such as this remediation.

The base has used its own funds to perform incremental rehabilitation while Public Works has managed contracts for major rehabilitation, which total $11 million to date.

In 2006, high concentrations of hydrocarbons - natural compounds found primarily in crude oil - were discovered. Freeman said that "two solid feet" of Bunker C oil - used on ships - was revealed in a monitoring well.

Bids closed Wednesday for the latest stage in the cleanup, expected to be worth close to $1 million.

The winning bidder will remove and dispose of contaminated soil, replacing it with new fill.

This portion of the site is further upland and less contaminated than the alreadyscrubbed area closer to the water. Funds will come out of the base's environmental works budget.

Also coming is a risk assessment of the uppermost section of the former shipyard, where Yarrows' offices and parking were located, to learn if further work is needed.

As the defunct shipyard land is being rehabilitated, B.C.'s shipbuilding industry is celebrating winning the right to negotiate to build $8-billion worth of federal non-combat ships. The first steel is expected to be cut early next year under contracts anticipated to bring stability to the industry and create thousands of jobs.

In its lifetime, Yarrows built hundreds of vessels, including Canadian Pacific Railway Princess passenger ships, tugs, barges, ferries, fishing trawlers, minesweepers, patrol frigates, corvettes, landing craft, scows and federal research and patrol vessels. The yard also repaired countless others.

But shipbuilding has waxed and waned on the coast. The industry's future looked bleak when Yarrows and Victoria Machinery Depot, another shipbuilder, closed in 1994.

When the federal government took possession of the land, it also took on the responsibility to clean it up.

The most severe contamination was that closest to the water where the heaviest industrial use took place. A hodgepodge of fill had been dumped on the shore to create more land in a time when environmental sensibilities and knowledge were far different.

That area was cleaned up in 2008-2009 when 90,000 tonnes of material was removed in what base environmental staff described as a technically challenging, complex project. Quantum Murray and SLR Global Environmental Solutions were the major contractors on the job, supported by 35 sub-contractors, Smith said.

Contaminated fill below the historic 1924 shoreline was removed. Material was tested at laboratories, taken to approved disposal sites, and new fill was put down.

Digging through the muck to depths of nine metres brought surprises.

"They used whatever they could to fill in the land," Freeman said.

A huge propeller was unearthed and saved for display. Boulders the size of cars, scrap metal, slag, chunks of concrete, creosoted piles, oils, greases, heavy metals such as lead, and riveted tanks still holding oil were among the discoveries.

The bomb squad was called in after a barrel containing sticks of dynamite was found.

The amount of material removed was the equivalent of 7,642 tandem truckloads of soil, Smith said.

Ocean barges, trucks and rail cars carried away material, including 60,000 tonnes sent to permitted facilities, plus another 3,000 tonnes of hazardous waste metals and hydrocarbons. About 27,000 tonnes of coarse rock was screened and reused.

Construction of a 201-metre barrier wall separating land and sea was "really challenging," said Freeman. Excavators worked to depths of up to nine metres below sea level as it was being installed.

A clay mineral slurry wall was constructed in places where the bedrock was close to the ground's surface. More than 2,500 cubic metres of concrete was used. A secant pile wall - a kind of retaining wall - was built in deeper sections.

Building the wall was tricky. If seawater pushed it more than 10 centimetres, the excavator, working in a slurry, would move away for safety reasons. Approximately 350 metres of steel piles were used to support the wall, which was almost 13 metres high in some places.

About 28,000 cubic metres of water was pumped, treated and discharged in the project.

YARROWS: A TIMELINE TO VICTORIA'S SHIPBUILDING HISTORY

? 1893: The Esquimalt Marine Railway Co. is incorporated by W. Fitzherbert Bullen. Work includes painting, repairing and copper resheathing of wooden hulls.

? 1898: Name changes to B.C. Marine Railway Co. A small marine railway is built in the Inner Harbour to haul out tugs, fishing vessels and sealing schooners. The yard wins jobs to construct CPR vessels such as the Princess Maquinna, and repair Royal Navy and deep-sea vessels.

? Dec. 1913: Sir Alfred Yarrow of England buys the Esquimalt yard for $300,000. He owned Yarrows Shipbuilders on the River Clyde in Scotland.

? January 1914: Son Norman Yarrow takes over the company and renames it Yarrows.

? 1914 to 1918: The yard repairs and refits many ships for the Royal Navy, and also produces high-explosive shells during the First World War. Employment hits 800 men.

? Mid-1920s: Shipbuilding gets a boost as the Esquimalt Graving Dock opens, helping to attract additional work.

? 1932: Ten per cent pay cut at Yarrows after work drops off during the Depression years.

? 1939 to 1945: The Second World War drives production to new levels. Yarrows arms the auxiliary cruiser Rajputana, owned by the P & O line, as well as the CPR's deep-sea fleet with its Empresses of Russia, Japan, Asia and Canada. During the war years, Yarrows repairs more than 2.5 million tons of Allied ships. Orders include two cargo ships, 17 frigates, five corvettes and five landing ships.

? At its peak during the war, 4,000 employees work for Yarrows.

? Early 1942: In a top-secret operation, Victoria High School technical students are recruited in a rush job to do the final work to convert the Queen Elizabeth, the world's largest passenger liner, into a troop carrier with capacity for 3,000 passengers. A total of 1,000 work on the job. Painters used 10 tons of grey paint and 4,000 paintbrushes.

? April 1946: Norman Yarrow retires and the company is sold to Burrard Dry Dock, owned by the Wallace family.

? 1950s: Yarrows diversifies production with aluminum towers for the Aluminum Company of Canada's smelter in Kitimat.

? 1956: $300,000 fabrication building is constructed on the Yarrows site.

? Mid-1950s: The company spends $5 million per year on goods and services. The number of hourly paid workers ranges from 900 to 1,000, plus 160 salaried staff.

? 1962: Yarrows has built more than 100 steel barges for B.C. industries. Employment hits a postwar high of 1,200, with a weekly payroll of $135,000.

? 1969: The shipyard builds the largest log barge in history, able to carry 20,000 tons of logs.

? 1970: A lack of marine work leads Yarrows to fabricate garbage containers, kitchen furniture and truck bodies.

? 1979: Yarrows formally amalgamates to become Burrard-Yarrows Corp.

? 1980: New Queen of Oak Bay is launched by Burrard-Yarrows.

Princess Marguerite refit. ? 1981:

Burrard-Yarrows Corp. ? 1985: renamed Versatile Pacific Shipyards, part of a Vancouverbased industrial conglomerate.

? 1989: Shieldings Inc., a Toronto investment firm, buys Versatile from B.C. Pacific Capital Corp.

? 1990: Cancellation of the longpromised $650-million Polar 8 icebreaker a major blow. However, Versatile wins piece of the Spirit of B.C. ferry contract.

? 1991: Shieldings closes its North Vancouver Burrard-Yarrows shipyard, laying off 325. Local yard renamed to Yarrows Ltd.

? 1994: Tough times in shipbuilding see the workforce drop off. The company owes Esquimalt more than $1 million in back taxes. Yarrows closes, as does Victoria Machinery Depot, a local firm producing everything from ships to water mains.

? May 26, 1994: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers holds three-day auction to disperse Yarrows machinery, boats, trailers after WCL Canada buys the shipyard's assets, excluding land and buildings. A $3-million target in sales is reached in the auction, which attracts 1,500 buyers.

? Ottawa buys the bulk of the Yarrows shipyard property, 12 acres, for $10. Esquimalt obtains two acres for $1 million.

cjwilson@timescolonist.com