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CIRIA’s Innovative Site Investigation Hub (ISI Hub) is a platform to share site investigation developments and solutions, a way for industry to encourage innovation.  The hub also provides business-to-business networking opportunities, giving you the opportunity to promote good practice and foster collaboration between different stakeholders.

Managing risks in the ground is an important aspect of construction projects, many sites may have contamination and other ground challenges, these include historic mining features, fault lines, high water table and poor ground condition, and many more.   Effective site investigation can help minimise the risk of encountering “unforeseen” ground conditions and improve the time scale, overall cost viability of the entire project.  

Innovation is key to any business success, it enables organisations to improve their productivity and, competitiveness, responds quickly to changes for their customers.  Innovative site investigation will improve our understanding of the site earlier in the project and make the operating phase of each development more streamlined and profitable.

You can choose to become a partner or supporter giving you the opportunity to direct the scope of the club and, with your profile on the website. For more information contact [email protected]



                               

No matter who you are and why you are interested in site investigation, getting involved with the ISI Hub means you will be able to access state of the art good practice and demonstrate that you are a leader in innovation.  
 
Failure to carry out an effective site investigation can and still is significantly affecting construction cost, time to completion, health and safety of the workers and the environment.  The ground beneath us is inherently heterogenous and naturally can vary over relatively short distances both laterally and vertically. Natural variability can be further complicated by anthropogenic activity giving rise to other hazards such as asbestos containing soils. 

In the UK, initiatives such as Construction Innovation Hub has been set up to ‘transform the construction industry.’  Similarly, innovation is needed in site investigation industry hence the reason for setting up this initiative to focus specifically on. The government incentivises innovation by running competitions to support industrial strategies and providing Research and Development (R&D) Tax Relief support companies that work on innovative projects in science and technology.

It is a fact that an effective site investigation pertinent to the proposed project is key to reducing ground risk.  

As part of the planning application, the planner, Environmental Health/ Contaminated Land Officer and Building Control Officers will ask for a site investigation report. Your application could be refused because of an inadequate site investigation.

Delays at the construction stage, where the financial implications may include not only standing time charges, but commercial finance charges and a delay on return on investment, can be significant.  Even worse is not gathering the right information at the right stage to ensure a development site is purchased at the right price.  

Land Remediation Relief (LRR) is the government incentive to help bring land blighted by previous industrial use back into beneficial use. It is a relief from corporation tax only. It provides a deduction of 100%, plus an additional deduction of 50%, for qualifying expenditure incurred by companies in cleaning up land acquired from a third party in a contaminated state.  

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