Ground Investigation : Residential Property

Technics Group were engaged by our client, on behalf of the homeowner, to undertake a ground investigation within the rear garden of a detached residential property to enable the construction of a luxury garden room.  

The area identified for the new building contained a large number of trees and concerns were raised regarding the possible requirement for piled foundations, if cohesive soils were present in the area, in accordance with NHBC guidance for building near trees.  

Technics Group undertook three window sampler boreholes at the site. In order to minimise disturbance to the property’s grounds, the borehole rig was tracked to and from the drilling locations over boards.  

The underlying ground was confirmed to comprise silty sand and in-situ and laboratory testing enabled detailed assessment of the soils and production of appropriate bearing capacities and buried concrete design information for the soils. These enabled the proposed building to utilise shallow foundations, providing a significant cost saving to the client.  

Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental investigations are an essential starting point for the design of any construction project as the findings can be used to avoid potential problems from unforeseen ground issues. 

In this instance the investigation works we carried out confirmed parameters for foundation design of the client’s luxury garden room. Without these works piled foundations would have been required due to the presence of nearby trees, which would have wasted time and money for the homeowner.

Our article on ground investigation surveys provides an overview of these types of surveys.

If you would like to know more about how our ground investigation services can help with your project then please do get in touch with our team of experts at our Guildford office on 01483 230080 or email enquiries@technicsgroup.com.