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Geotechnical Engineering

 

Geotechnical engineers provide the foundation for development and infrastructure projects for our communities. Opus geotechnical professionals provide a comprehensive range of services for engineering and infrastructure projects.

Our geotechnical professionals investigate ground conditions to determine soil and rock properties. We assess how proposed construction projects will interact with the ground and design foundations to support structures.

Our geotechnical design projects include:

  • Foundations for buildings, bridges, towers, wharves, tanks
  • Foundations for other load-bearing structures
  • Foundation types, include footings, rafts, shallow and deep piles
  • Ground improvements works, such as dynamic compaction, stone columns, and vibro-compaction
  • Ground improvements for smaller structures where the soil conditions do not allow for code-based design

Our engineers provide services for the assessment and design of earthworks and excavations, man-made and natural slopes, embankments, retaining walls, tunnels, reservoirs, dams, roads and pavements, channels, mining and landfills.  Our engineers specialise in large groundwork projects such as underground rail stations.

Our geotechnical engineers assess the risk to people, communities and the environment from natural hazards such as landslides, rockfalls, sinkholes, earthquakes and soil liquefaction.   In addition to considering natural hazards, our geotechnical engineers apply risk management to our engineering projects to ensure project outcomes meet our client’s expectations.

For more information please contact:
Robert Hutchison 
Technical Leader
Unit 2.3 Clarendon Business Park
Clumber Avenue
Nottingham NG5 1AH
Tel +44 115 924 6400
Fax +44 115 960 3549
Email robert.hutchison@opusinternational.co.uk

 

Related Services

Show all Geotechnical Engineering Project Profiles

RSPB Nature Reserve, United Kingdom

Opus was commissioned by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to supervise creation of a new nature reserve in South Yorkshire. Opus was appointed to supervise the earthworks in conjunction with their in-house experts to transform 43 hectares of farmland into a new wetlands area.

                                                                                   

Earith Sluice, United Kingdom

Opus is working with the Environment Agency to carry out remedial and refurbishment works to a sluice, which acts as a flood defence, at Earith in Cambridgeshire.

Find out more.. 
                                                                                   

Queens Medical Centre - Slope Stability, United Kingdom

A number of badger setts were one of the main reasons behind a significant slope instability problem in the grounds of the Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham.

Find out more.. 
                                                                                   

Priddy’s Hard, Gosport, United Kingdom

Opus has completed work to investigate contamination and geotechnics at a former naval explosives depot in Gosport, ‘Priddy’s Hard’ having been involved at the site, acquired by Barratt Homes from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), since 1994.

Find out more.. 
                                                                                   

Shipton Quarry, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Opus is engaged as lead engineering consultant on the redevelopment of a large disused limstone quarry in Oxfordshire.
Shipton Quarry extends over 71 Ha, part of which has Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status in recognition of important geological features that require preservation as the site is developed.

Find out more.. 
                                                                                   

Wellington Inner City Bypass, New Zealand

This highway extension provided a number of geotechnical challenges, including construction of a sunken roadway which would not adversely affect the regional groundwater system.  Our engineers successfully designed the eight-metre deep roadway using  propped walls and soil nails without disruption to groundwater passages.

Find out more.. 
                                                                                   

Mt. Grand Reservoir, Dunedin, New Zealand

Located on the top of a water reservoir ‘mountain’, this structure is the largest geosynthetically-lined reservoir in New Zealand.  Earthworks for this structure were challenging both because of the location and the soft ground in the area.  The structure was commissioned in 2006.

Find out more..