Soil Decision Making Guidance: incorporating soil functions throughout the project lifecycle 

Soil underpins everything. It plays a vital role in landscaping, agriculture, water quality, flood risk management, biodiversity, and carbon storage, and it’s at the heart of the UK Government’s wider environmental agenda. Most construction projects generate surplus soil, and once that soil is classified as waste, particularly where contamination is present, its management becomes significantly more complex.

There is a wealth of guidance and information highlighting the importance and value that soil provides, including its reuse and retention. What is missing is practical support on how to act on it.

Project objectives

The output is a good practice guide for construction professionals that increases beneficial soil reuse and helps meet environmental targets, including BGN requirements. It will cover:

• How soil functions, from supporting structures to wider benefits such as nature recovery and flood mitigation, can be considered at every stage of a project. This includes reducing the amount of surplus soil generated from the outset, weighing on-site and off-site reuse options at the appropriate stage, deciding when and how the nature of soil can be improved so that it can be reused, and how soil is best used to deliver Biodiversity Net Gain.
• Soil management issues on site, such as how stockpiles are arranged and how to avoid mixing different soil types, so that soil function is preserved.
• How topsoil that does not meet British Standard B23882 can be put to other beneficial uses, for example in earthworks or foundations.

Project status
This project is currently seeking technical and financial support.

Further information
For further information or to get involved with this project please contact Joanne Kwan