Ground Investigation Porthtowan

Ground Consultants Limited recently completed a combined environmental, geotechnical and mining investigation at a site in Porthtowan, following on from our recent Phase 1 Desk Study

Back in June 2022, we completed a Phase 1 Desk Study at a site in Porthtowan, where it is proposed to develop a number of residential dwellings.

More information on the initial findings can be found in our recent blog post, here

Ground Consultants Limited were able to offer a multidisciplinary approach, assessing both the environmental and geotechnical parameters of the site, as well as historic mining.

Our investigation involved the following;

• Six Windowless Sample Boreholes
• Three Trial Pits with Soakaway Tests
• Two Trial Trenches for Mining Investigation Purposes
• Five Dynamic Cone Penetrometer Tests (DCPs) for Road/Pavement Design
• Environmental Laboratory Testing Including
  • Heavy Metals
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
  • Arsenic Bioaccessibility
• Geotechnical Laboratory Testing Including
  • Particle Size Distribution (PSD)
  • Moisture Content
  • Atterberg Limits (to determine the potential for shrinking and/or swelling of any clay-based material)
  • pH & Sulphate Testing (to determine to aggresivity of the ground towards concrete)

Levels of naturally occurring arsenic were found to exceed the relevant guidelines, and so bioaccessibility testing was undertaken. A maximum bioaccessibility of 2.5% was determined, which successfully reduced the risk from arsenic.

We’re pleased to report that the project was delivered on time and on-budget, and to the client’s satisfaction.