Description

BS 6031 - Best practice guidance on geotechnical aspects of earthworks and on working practices.

What are earthworks?

Earthworks are:

1) Structures formed by the excavating, raising or sloping of ground, e.g. embankments, cuttings or remediated natural slopes

2) Civil engineering process that includes extraction, loading, transport, transformation/improvement, placement and compaction of natural materials (soils, rocks), and/or secondary or recycled materials, in order to obtain stable and durable cuttings, embankments or engineered fills.

Earthworks are commonly associated with transport infrastructure, but there are many other important applications:

Platforms for industrial, commercial and residential buildings
Water engineering, flood defence and coastal protection works
Other civil engineering projects.

What is included in BS 6031?

BS 6031 gives recommendations and guidance for unreinforced earthworks forming part of general civil engineering construction, with the exception of dams. It also gives recommendations and guidance for temporary excavations such as trenches and pits.

BS 6031 reflects the actual processes that might be followed on a typical project to deliver the earthworks. In practice earthworks design is an iterative process where the employer, consultant, main contractor, sub-contractors and construction validation team often take design decisions. To reflect this situation BS 6031includes some subjects in more than one clause.