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Ground Movement Analysis

Ground movements can arise for a wide range of reasons, including excavation of basements, tunnelling, foundation loadings, and clay shrinkage and swelling.

The analysis of movements due to basement excavation often forms part of a basement impact assessment and needs to consider the heave movements resulting from the excavation, along with movements behind the retaining walls. We use a range of industry-standard software to model the resulting movements, including consideration of timing of prop installation and excavation stages.

On many sites that have been developed previously, or where a building is being remodelled or refurbished, additional load may be applied to existing foundations that have been loaded for many years. In such situations detailed consideration needs to be given to the movements that will arise from the additional load and the often complex interaction between new and existing foundations. We adopt a pragmatic and sensible approach and in many cases clients have been able to save the cost of new foundations as a result of our detailed movement predictions.

We are often consulted to resolve issues arising from party wall matters, and can provide a forensic service to investigate situations where movements have arisen. With our extensive experience of ground investigation methods we are able to ensure that the required data is obtained from any intrusive investigations that may be necessary, to allow proper ground movement predictions to be made.