THE VALUE OF TIMELY HAZARD IDENTIFICATION

The life of a project may be considered in the four stages of concept, design, construction, and operation. Involvement of a specialist geotechnical engineer at the outset should lead to a proper understanding of the ground related hazards. The continued input during the design should result in a scheme which achieves the required function for the lowest cost and thereby enhances the overall value of the development. The geotechnical specialist may sometimes not be introduced to the project until the construction stage or even later when problems arise in the operation stage. By this time the opportunities for corrective or remedial measures will be restricted and the cost to make necessary changes will be high. The value of the development is accordingly diminished. This paper gives examples where the geotechnical specialist was introduced to a project at each of the project stages. It demonstrates that the later the point at which the first involvement occurred, the greater the potential monetary loss and therefore the lower the likely end value of the development. Suggestions are made as to how geotechnical engineers could demonstrate the value of their having an early input to a project. They should draw attention to the high cost of corrective measures during the operation stage. In this way developers may be encouraged to understand the benefits that geotechnical specialists can bring to the project. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD E102464.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1860812511
• Corporate Authors:

  CONSTRUCTION RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS LTD

  151 ROSEBERY AVENUE
  LONDON,   United Kingdom  EC1R 4GB
• Authors:
  • THOMPSON, R P
• Conference:
  • THE VALUE OF GEOTECHNICS IN CONSTRUCTION. PROCEEDINGS FROM THE SEMINAR, INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS, LONDON, 4 NOVEMBER 1998
• Publication Date: 1998

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 3-11

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction; Construction sites; Planning; Soil mechanics; Surveying
• Uncontrolled Terms: Site investigation
• ITRD Terms: 3655: Construction; 3628: Construction site; 143: Planning; 5722: Site investigation; 5755: Soil mechanics; 4025: Surveying (land)
• Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00779179
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• ISBN: 1-86081-251-1
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 7 1999 12:00AM