Desktop Study – Leeds

Desktop Study – Leeds

Southwest Environmental Limited have recently issued a Geotechnical Desktop Study for a site in Leeds. The report followed our typical format for a Geotechnical Desktop Study including sections on:
  • Site Information
  • Land Use
  • Geology
  • Ground Stability Issues
  • Mining History
  • Review of Legacy Borehole Data 

In this instance we were asked to provide climate data and earth quake (seismic) data. It is interesting for us when we asked to vary or reports! As we do get a l;little tired of following the same format time and time again.

Earth Quakes in the UK

The largest known British earthquake occurred near the Dogger Bank in 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1. Fortunately, it was 60 miles offshore but was still powerful enough to cause minor damage to buildings on the east coast of England. The most damaging UK earthquake was in the Colchester area in 1884. The BGS publish a map of seismic reflection which we used to find a value for the design. 

Climatic Variation 


There are of course good records for climate data in the UK, however we need to add allowances for climate change these are then added on to modelled variances, whether these be historic maximum values or modelled outcomes.

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