The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is the principal
association for geotechnical engineers in the United Kingdom.
The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is the principal
association for geotechnical engineers in the United Kingdom.
Three important geotechnical codes of practice – BS 8004 for foundation, BS 8002 for earth retaining structures, and BS 8081 for grouted anchors – are being completely re-written in time for publication in June 2015. The first two of these codes were withdrawn from British practice in March 2010 (and the third made ‘obsolescent’) to coincide with the introduction of Eurocode 7 (BS EN 1997).
Funding from HS2 has allowed the British Standards Institution (BSI) to commission work to convert the withdrawn codes of practice into design standards that will provide ‘non-contradictory, complementary information’ (NCCI) for use in conjunction with BS EN 1997 and its UK National Annex. These projects also offer the opportunity to update the technical content of documents that are now 20-30 years old.
The contracts for re-writing BSs 8004 and 8002 were won by Geocentrix and that for BS 8081 by Coffey, with BSI establishing three separate Steering Groups to oversee the projects. Work on the documents began in June 2014 and Drafts for Public Comments (DPCs) were issued by BSI in January 2015. Links to the documents and deadlines for receiving comments are given below:
BS 8004, Code of practice for foundations; Review published 28 Jan, ends 24 March 2015
BS 8002, Code of practice for earth retaining structures; Review published 28 Jan, ends 24 March 2015
BS 8081, Code of practice for grouted anchors; Review published 15 Jan, ends 24 March 2015
An evening workshop in the series Eurocode 7 and New Design Challenges is being arranged to discuss the contents of the new standards for Tuesday 17th March. Speakers at the event will be Dr Andrew Bond of Geocentrix (author of the new BSs 8004 and 8002), Dr Caesar Merrifield of Coffey and Dr Devon Mothersille of Geoserve Global (authors of the new BS 8081), and two other international speakers (who will speak about NCCI in their countries). The meeting will alse feature current revisions of CIRIA Report C580 – Embedded retaining walls: guidance for economic design. Details and the full programme of the event will soon be available here.
See also: events listing.