May 2010

New Soil Stabilisation Best Practice Guidelines Published

Stabilising land with the use of lime, cement or other binders offers an extremely cost effective and environmentally friendly way of making weak soil viable for infrastructure or construction use. New guidelines, ‘Soil Stabilisation: Guidelines for Best Practice’, from Britpave explain how the execution of a successful project can be achieved.

The use of binders means that virtually any soil found on site can be strengthened and improved. Carrying out the operation on-site is far more cost effective and has considerably less environmental impact than traditional ‘dig and dump’ which takes untreated soil away from site by lorries to dump in increasingly scarce and expensive landfill sites.

Soil stabilisation is carried out in layers. The soil is excavated to the required depth for stabilising and mixed with the binder. It is sealed, to prevent carbonisation of the binder while it reacts with the moisture in the soil, and then compacted with a roller. The strengthened and improved engineering properties of the soil mean it can then be used for road, pavement and foundation construction.

The guidance from Britpave provides details of the activities, standards and records needs for a successful soil stabilisation project. It outlines the responsibilities of the project designer, manager, stabilisation contractor and testing laboratory, and provides a breakdown of the process from ground investigation, laboratory trials and determination of design properties to site works, control and testing. Highlighted within the guidance are the necessary record procedures and advice comments based upon real life experience of soil stabilisation projects.

“These guidelines offer the basis for planning a soil stabilisation project and provide a checklist to ensure that each phase is properly carried out”, said David Jones, director of Britpave. “Soil stabilisation offers an effective solution to the problem of weak, unusable soil.  These new guidelines explain the step needed to achieve a successful project.” Many Britpave soil stabilisation contractors have already signed up to these Guidelines. A list of those who have may be found on www.soilstabilisation.org.uk.

For copies of Soil Stabilisation: Guidelines for Best Practice, visit: www.britpave.org.uk

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For more information please contact Gwil Neal by tel: 0207 9638000 or e-mail gwilym.neal@mineralproducts.org

The BLA is a constituent body of the Mineral Products Association Ltd., the trade association for the aggregates, asphalt and ready-mix concrete industries. The BLA represents the interests of six member companies, responsible for producing more than 95% of the lime sold in the UK. The BLA members are Hanson, Lhoist UK Ltd, Singleton Birch, Steetley Dolomite Ltd, Tarmac Buxton Lime & Cement UK and Totternhoe Lime and Stone Company Ltd.