Construction and infrastructure

Our mission

BGS is the primary custodian of national-scale baseline geological data for the construction and infrastructure sector, to increase early-stage awareness of ground risks and reduce project delays and overspend. BGS provides specialist geological services for government and industry in support of nationally significant infrastructure projects.

We work with

• National Infrastructure Commission
• Infrastructure and Projects Authority
• Geospatial Commission
• Government Office for Technology Transfer
• Infrastructure asset owners
• Geotechnical engineers

Investing in infrastructure

Investment in infrastructure is central to the UK Government’s mission to ‘Fix the Foundations’, which includes a 10-year infrastructure strategy to guide investment plans and provide the private sector with certainty about project pipelines.

Over the last decade, public investment in infrastructure has averaged around £20 billion in Great Britain, or approximately 1 per cent of GDP (NIC report).

An estimated investment of £230 million per year is spent on ground investigations to acquire the geological data and information needed for the development of new infrastructure (BGS report).

The challenge

Despite investment in ground investigation, failure to properly assess geological conditions and ground constraints is one of the leading causes of project delay and overspend. Improved early-stage awareness of ground risks enables more appropriate design and construction methods, reducing the need for additional surveys and late-stage, often costly, alterations.

The solutions

Better data in — It is estimated that less than 30 per cent of ground investigation records are submitted to the BGS data centres, which equates to a loss of data and knowledge worth an estimated £184 million a year from the UK economy. To help solve this, we have worked with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to include a new subsurface data sharing model clause in HM Government’s Construction Playbook.

Making data accessible — BGS’s National Geoscience Data Centre holds key datasets for the construction sector, including more than 1.4 million borehole records. These are provided to users via our open-access GeoIndex web app; over 100 000 borehole records are downloaded each month.

Making the economic case — We are working with the Geospatial Commission and industry specialists to provide new data services to unlock further value from ground investigation data. A conservative estimate of the potential value of geological data and information for the construction sector is £2.3 billion a year.

Learn more about the Common Ground project.

The complete picture

BGS delivers bespoke data products, geological services and 3D ground models to provide early-stage awareness of ground conditions and de-risk new infrastructure projects. The information is used to inform infrastructure design and construction, such as:

• route lineaments
• geotechnical baseline reports
• design optioneering
• drilling methods for tunnelling
  projects
• management of excavated
  materials

Evidence suggests that use of 3D geological data and information leads to an estimated 10 per cent efficiency saving at the ground investigation stage.