Geotechnics for Building Professionals





GEOTECHNICS FOR

BUILDING PROFESSIONALS

JACHARLES

PhD, DSc(Eng), FREng, FICE

Foreword by

PROFESSOR J B BURLAND

FRS, FREng, FICE, FIStructE



PREFACE

Of all the components that make up a modern building or civil engineering structure, the ground is

often the least well known and appreciated and a lack of attention to foundation design and

construction can have undesirable and expensive consequences. For low-rise buildings the situation is

particularly troublesome for two reasons:

❐ many important decisions concerning ground and foundations are made by people who normally

have had little or no training in geotechnical engineering;

❐ the near-surface soils that support most low-rise buildings frequently do not receive the attention

that their complex behaviour deserves.

In an endeavour to improve matters, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) has, over many

years, published guidance on various aspects of foundations for low-rise buildings in Digests,

Information Papers, Good Building Guides and Reports. This book draws together this guidance.

Although the material has been written by specialists, it has been written primarily for building

professionals who are not geotechnical specialists.

The idea of bringing the published BRE guidance together in the form of a book was first discussed

by Richard Driscoll, then Head of Geotechnics Division at BRE, and Andrew Charles. The time that

has elapsed between that first discussion and the appearance of the book can be attributed to several

factors, by no means the least of these has been that the task has proved to be a good deal more

arduous than originally anticipated!

While this book principally focuses on the application of geotechnics to foundations, the geotechnical

work at BRE has never been narrowly confined to building as such, but has had a breadth

commensurate with that of the construction industry.


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