Halcrow’s earthworks expertise includes:
- design of cut and fill slopes
- optimisation of earthworks design based on engineering, economic, environmental and sustainability factors
- specification of fill materials
- design of in situ testing and instrumentation
- ground improvement
- monitoring of quality control and performance
An essential constraint in most earthworks designs derives from the cost and environmental benefits of eliminating the import and export from the site of bulk earthworks materials. Our approach embraces this factor in a value engineering process aimed at optimising the use of earthworks materials taking account of all sources of whole-life costs including land acquisition, construction, operation and maintenance.
Serviceable earthworks designs often require the adoption of ground improvement processes. Halcrow has wide experience of designing many types of ground improvement including:
- surcharges
- wick drains
- soil nails
- lightweight fills, including polystyrene
- groundwater drainage
- vibro-replacement
- dynamic compaction