NICOLE (Network for Contaminated Land in Europe) was set up in 1995 as a result of the CEFIC “SUSTECH” programme which promotes co-operation between industry and academia on the development of sustainable technologies. NICOLE is the principal forum that European business uses to develop and influence the state of the art in contaminated land management in Europe. NICOLE was created to bring together problem holders and researchers throughout Europe who are interested in all aspects of contaminated land. It is open to public and private sector organisations. NICOLE was initiated as a Concerted Action within the European Commission’s Environment and Climate RTD Programme in 1996. It has been self-funding since February 1999.

NICOLE initiated a meeting about brownfields remediation and redevelopment as part of its ongoing conference series, which is outlined in Table 1, as a result of members’ intense interest in the brownfields debate. The two other principal European contaminated land networks took part in the workshop: ANCORE and CLARINET. NICOLE and CLARINET have a long standing working relationship, which has recently been expanded to encompass the new network ANCORE. A feature of NICOLE's relationship with ANCORE and CLARINET is an open invitation to their participants to attend NICOLE meetings.