BGS Civils: engineered fill

BGS Civils is a suite of national maps of engineering properties based on geological data and the digital 1:50 000-scale geological map — BGS Geology 50K.

It comprises eight layers: 

• bulking volume
• corrosivity (ferrous)
• discontinuities
• engineered fill
• excavatability
• foundation conditions
• strength
• sulfate/sulfide

The primary goal of the product is to provide the key engineering characteristics of the geology of Great Britain to professional users who need simple and rapid access to such information. You might be planning pipeline routes avoiding difficult ground conditions, calculating tender costs for trench excavation or you might need knowledge of ground properties in order to plan your daily activities.

The data is provided as GIS shapefiles that are available to licence individually or as a bundle to meet your own requirements.

This dataset

This theme provides information on the suitability of a geological material to be used as engineered fill.

The spatial model covers England, Scotland and Wales at 1:50 000 scale using data from the following BGS datasets:

• Soil Parent Material Map
• National Geotechnical Properties Database
• BritPits

The use of engineering fill is an important consideration in the civil engineering and extractive industries. The rapidly increasing cost of removing material off-site, and especially disposal of unused material, means that a great deal of effort is now taken to identify if and how these materials can be used on-site.

What is engineered fill?

‘Fill’ is a material that is used to fill in a depression or hole in the ground, create mounds or otherwise artificially change the elevation of the ground. These may include:

• earthworks that infill, raise or level the ground
• embankments
• foundation pads
• landscaping
• road bases

Fill may be engineered or non-engineered.

Engineered fill is selected, placed and compacted to an appropriate specification in order that it will exhibit the required engineering behaviour.

Non-engineered fill usually involves the disposal of waste materials. Normally such fill would occur on sites where uncontrolled filling has taken place and therefore no reliance can be placed on the type of fill material and method of placement.

Classification

The classification for the engineered fill theme primarily follows the Highways Agency classification but is also informed by expert judgement and methods previously used by the BGS. The description of the classification can be found in the free downloadable user guide.