Surefire Management Group is a boutique environmental consultancy based in Brunswick West, Melbourne — servicing all of Victoria. We exist for clients who want practical, commercial advice without big-firm overhead or junior hand-offs.
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Direct senior accessThe consultant who scopes your job runs your job — start to finish.
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Commercially mindedAdvice framed around your settlement dates, budgets and approvals.
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Transparent pricingClear scopes and fixed fees wherever possible. No surprises.
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Years of senior environmental consulting experience
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Projects delivered across metro and regional Victoria
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EPA-compliant outcomes accepted first time
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Typical response time for new project enquiries
What We Do
Services that take you from question to certainty.
Whether you're buying, building, operating or divesting — we cover the full environmental lifecycle of your site.
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Environmental Site Assessments
Due diligence assessments, PSI & DSI investigations, planning permit conditions and GED compliance.
"We manage your problem from start to solution." One senior point of contact from problem identification through investigation, remediation and validation — plus tendering and bid advice on contamination issues.
A selection of recent engagements across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Property Development
Contaminated Land Management — Brunswick Redevelopment
Petroleum
UPSS Remediation — Metro Service Station Portfolio
Industrial
Phase 2 ESA — South Melbourne Industrial Precinct
Landfill
Groundwater Monitoring Network — Northern Victoria
Knowledge Hub
Groundwork — guides worth digging into.
Practical, plain-English guides on contamination for owners, developers and builders. No jargon, no fluff.
Contaminated Land
Think your land might be contaminated? Six signs worth checking
Most contamination is invisible from the surface — but a site almost always leaves clues. What to look for before you buy, develop or dig.
Read the guide →
Property Development
Found contamination? Why it doesn't have to kill your deal
Contamination rarely kills deals — uncertainty does. Why a positive finding is a cost item, not a stop sign, and how early knowledge becomes leverage.
Read the guide →
Remediation
Dealing with contamination: a straight-talking playbook
Four steps separate sites that get unlocked from sites that stall — starting with getting qualified, experienced people involved early.
Read the guide →
Client Stories
Advice clients come back for.
Most of our work comes from repeat clients and referrals — developers, builders and councils who've seen the difference senior-led consulting makes to timelines and budgets.
"The team at Surefire helped us through a massive issue. We felt in safe hands the whole way — they delivered, and resolved what was a massive deal blocker."
DD
Development DirectorMelbourne Property Group
"Surefire saved the deal. Contamination had stalled our settlement for months — they turned it into a clear, costed pathway and got us to completion."
AM
Acquisitions ManagerResidential Developer
"Senior people, straight answers, no surprises. What looked like a project-killer was resolved in weeks, not months."
CC
DirectorCivil Contracting Group
"They managed our problem from start to solution. One phone call, and it was handled."
PO
Portfolio OwnerService Stations · Metro Melbourne
Knowledge Hub · Contaminated Land
Think your land might be contaminated? Six signs worth checking
Most contamination is invisible from the surface — but a site almost always leaves clues. Before you buy, develop or dig, run through this checklist.
The site's past lives. Former service stations, factories, dry cleaners, market gardens and filled land are among Victoria's most common contamination sources. Old aerial photos and historical titles tell you a lot.
Suspicious fill. Building rubble, ash, slag or cement-sheet fragments in the soil mean uncontrolled fill — and uncontrolled fill means unknowns.
Staining and odours. Dark hydrocarbon staining, or chemical and fuel smells — especially after rain or during excavation — are classic red flags.
Stressed vegetation. Bare patches and plants that struggle for no obvious reason can point to what's underneath.
Leftover infrastructure. Vent pipes, fill points, old tanks, pits and bores indicate underground storage you can't see.
Paperwork flags. An Environmental Audit Overlay in the planning scheme, EPA notices, or gaps in the site's history all warrant a closer look.
None of these prove contamination — and their absence doesn't rule it out. The only way to know is targeted sampling. A Preliminary Site Investigation is fast and inexpensive compared to discovering a problem after you've settled or started works.
Suspect something? Get a straight answer before it becomes a surprise.
Found contamination? Why it doesn't have to kill your deal
It's the phone call every developer dreads: the assessment came back positive. But here's what decades of contaminated-land work teaches you — contamination rarely kills deals. Uncertainty does.
It's a cost item, not a stop sign
The vast majority of contaminated sites in Victoria are redeveloped successfully. Once contamination is characterised, it becomes what every other site issue is — a scoped cost with a timeline.
The rules work in your favour
Victoria's framework is risk-based: land needs to be made suitable for its intended use, not returned to pristine condition. A warehouse doesn't need the same outcome as a childcare centre — and your remediation strategy and budget should reflect that.
Early knowledge is negotiating power
Contamination discovered during due diligence is leverage — price adjustments, vendor contributions, extended settlements. Contamination discovered after settlement is your problem alone. The order matters more than the dirt.
Put real numbers in the feasibility
With early investigation, waste classifications and remediation scope become line items in your feasibility instead of blowouts halfway through civil works.
Deals die from unknowns. A clear, costed pathway keeps yours alive — and your development dreams with it.
Dealing with contamination: a straight-talking playbook
You've confirmed contamination on your site — what now? Four steps separate sites that get unlocked from sites that stall.
1. Get qualified help — early
This is not a do-it-yourself problem. You want senior consultants with deep EPA Victoria experience, established auditor relationships and a track record on sites like yours — involved before decisions get expensive. One accountable point of contact beats a chain of subcontractors.
2. Investigate once, properly
Cheap, thin investigations get repeated — that's how sites end up assessed three times. A well-designed preliminary and detailed site investigation answers the questions that matter the first time.
3. Plan remediation around your end use
A pragmatic Remediation Action Plan matches the method to your land use and program — reuse and containment where appropriate, not reflexive dig-and-dump. This is routinely a six-figure difference.
4. Validate and document
Validation reporting and clearance documentation are what regulators, auditors, financiers and future buyers rely on. Done properly, your problem stays solved.
Handled this way, contamination becomes a line item with a date and a cost — not a crisis.
