45,000 m3
of materials were reused on site
Ground Risk Assessment - Battery Storage
We were appointed as civil engineering designer for the construction of the UK's first at scale battery manufacturing plant with an initial capacity of 9GWh and state of the art battery technology.
Planning permission for the scheme was granted in 2018, and our Environmental Compliance and Ground Engineering (ECGE) team provided geotechnical and geoenvironmental consultancy services to support the approval of ground-related planning conditions. We also provided input to the design of the scheme itself to support its successful delivery.
Key details
Project name
Ground Risk Assessment – Battery Storage
Client
Confidential
Location
UK
Services provided
- Geoenvironmental and geotechnical consultancy
- Civil engineering
Challenge
One of the key principles of the project for our client was the sustainable reuse of materials to minimise the need for offsite disposal and importing materials during enabling works. To support our client, we provided a materials assessment.
The scheme itself is planned to be built over challenging and varied ground conditions which has required a thorough understanding of potential ground risks - especially those associated with differing foundation solutions that are reactive to the local variable ground conditions.
During the project, we scoped and supervised a ground investigation for the site and prepared interpretative ground investigation, ground movement assessments and remediation strategy documents.
Solution
It was necessary to have a thorough understanding of the ground conditions. This was achieved by effective targeted ground investigations. We found that the foundation design can be optimised to minimise the amount of piling that was required. We also advised the use of traditional shallow footing where practicable.
The key to the successful delivery was a proactive approach and collaboration. Some of the data acquisition stages took place whilst the design of the works was being progressed. We worked to a tight schedule and ensured that the evolving scheme design could be assessed, whilst providing engineering guidance and technical support to our client.
To support our client in delivering the development platform to reuse materials, we will work alongside the contractor, earthworks contractor and their testing laboratory to ensure continued appraisal of ground conditions.
We will continue providing consultancy services as part of the project’s delivery phase, including works specifications with technical support, and monitoring the earthworks and enabling works.
Project statistics
23
boreholes ranging in depths of up to circa 30m depth, totalling over 300m of drilling
52
machine excavated trial pits
12
cone penetration tests
