Brownfield development sites: ground-related risks for buildings (X263)

The use of previously developed land for building development offers substantial advantages in social, economic and environmental terms. This land is often described as ’brownfield’. The report is concerned with those aspects of risk management for building developments on brownfield sites that involve ground-related hazards for the built environment. The report is, of necessity, concerned with hazards and risks, but it is emphasised that an unwarranted over-sensitivity to risk will, of course, defeat the objective of locating building developments on brownfield sites. The hazards to the human population from contaminated land are not discussed; guidance for the safe development of housing on land affected by contamination can be found in the Environment Agency and NHBC (2000) report. This report outlines a systematic means of managing the range of risks to the built environment over the lifetime of the building development. Principal hazards are ground movement, vulnerability of construction materials to aggressive ground conditions, gas migration, and subterranean fires. Case histories are discussed.

ISBN: 1860815715

Author: J A Charles, R C Chown, K S Watts, G Fordyce

Number of pages: 50

Publisher: BRE Publishing

Date of Publication: January 2002