David Fisher, head of geosynthetics sales at Geoworks, discusses the regularity of high-quality and transparent ground engineering and data-driven design
Building safety, volatile material costs and the skills gap continue to dominate headlines in the built environment sector, but one persistent challenge receives relatively little attention – that of transparent ground engineering at the beginning of projects
It’s time to better consider how effectively engineers can access accurate, reliable design information, enabling better decisions throughout the construction supply chain.
With digital tools, the new normal could see evidence-based, transparent, and auditable ground engineering solutions specified.
Unnecessary excess
Inaccurate or unsuitable specifications are a major cause of construction inefficiency. In our world, despite ambitious embodied carbon reduction targets and extremely tight project margins, flawed processes can lead to excessive material orders, unnecessary vehicle movements and wasted investment. On the flip side, it’s not uncommon for material orders to underestimate a project’s true requirements – which can cause costly delays and loss of client confidence.
The BRE’s most recent UK construction benchmarks report showed very positive project data relating to landfill diversion. However, the BRE’s head of product management for building performance services, Antonio Hernandez, highlighted where the problem remains.
Antonio said: “Construction has all but solved waste to landfill. The bigger challenge now is the waste the industry creates in the first place, and that work begins at the design stage.”
The report shows that between 2016 and 2025, based on data recorded across almost 5,000 projects, waste per 100m² of floor area rose by more than 10%. So, major efficiency gains remain to be seen.
Earning the trust of alternatives
Forward-thinking businesses across the sector are investing heavily and are committed to innovation, practical engineering and sustainable infrastructure. The motivation, which hopefully encourages different stakeholders, is to build a stronger arsenal of intelligent digital tools that make decision-making easier and more transparent.
To do this, technical experts who truly understand site design challenges must be involved. Moreover, proven design methodologies paired with independently tested and verified materials will improve confidence among engineers, contractors, clients and regulators.
Using the fundamentals of transparency, successful tools should be judged on their ability to ensure information is accurate, accessible and unambiguous. An engineer needs to understand the methodology behind a calculation, the assumptions made, the information entered, and how the resulting specification was reached. A consultant reviewing the design should be able to interrogate it, and regulators must be satisfied with compliance. A contractor should be able to understand what has been specified. Where appropriate, another competent engineer should be capable of checking the calculation and reaching the same conclusion.
This is an important cultural point. Digital tools should support professional engineering judgement, rather than attempt to replace it. A well-designed digital tool can perform calculations rapidly, make comparisons easier and highlight opportunities that might otherwise take considerably longer to investigate. However, the resulting information must remain open to professional scrutiny.
Rolling out new solutions requires understanding and support. In our experience, to help users get the most out of a new tool from day one, we should create a dedicated introduction programme. We followed this by hosting a series of webinars and face-to-face CPD seminars across the UK, giving potential users and beneficiaries the opportunity to see the platform in action, ask questions, and gain hands-on experience.
Scrutiny breeds success
Engineering, of course, has many branches. At Geoworks, we focus on ground engineering. In ground engineering, small design refinements can translate into significant changes in the quantities of aggregate required, the number of vehicle movements to site, and, ultimately, the carbon associated with a project. The challenge is ensuring those refinements are based on sound engineering rather than simply pursuing material reductions for their own sake.
This is where digital design tools play an increasingly important role. The objective should not be to use technology to produce the smallest possible specification. It should be to give engineers better information to arrive at an appropriate, defensible, and efficient specification.
Reinforced and unreinforced ground designs, for example, should be evaluated side by side to understand how changes to construction depth affect aggregate quantities, transport requirements and associated carbon.
No matter how minor or major the project, established and emerging digital design tools can drive productivity like never before. It may seem easier and less stressful to continue an existing way of working, but blissful ignorance is an obstacle that we must all work together to avoid. Instead, we must embrace solutions that provide clear insight into potential cost, embodied carbon and time savings, while simplifying the design and specification process by quickly highlighting variables and comparing different approaches before materials arrive on site
As demand for traceability and accountability across the built environment intensifies, I’m convinced professionals will reach a crossroads where the only viable option is to adopt data-driven, transparent design as the new normal. Only then can projects be kicked off more easily, with clarity and confidence.
