What are ground investigations?
It’s vital for project teams to understand what they’re proposing to build on. Ground investigations provide a clear and comprehensive understanding of a site’s ground conditions and subsurface elements. From understanding soil and rock characteristics to assessing groundwater and contamination risks, they are an essential step.
Our land surveyors support geotechnical engineers with on-site investigations. Accurate, site-specific ground investigations are key to a successful construction process. While we don’t conduct the investigations ourselves, our services play a crucial role. We ensure greater location accuracy for various ground investigations, like CBR tests, boreholes and trial pits.
What projects need site investigations?
Why are ground surveys & investigations needed?
Confirming the land’s geology
Provides certainty that the type of ground being built on matches with what is believed to be there.
Contaminated land assessments
Investigating soil properties to identify any potential for contamination or risk to human health and the environment.
Drainage and flood risks
Groundwater monitoring and assessments are needed for new drainage proposals and to understand a site’s flood risks.
Road and pavement construction
Assessing the stiffness of substructure materials to determine whether they are suitable for building new roads and pavements on.
Why choose Cheshire Surveys
We provide a range of surveys and related services across the North West, Cheshire, North Staffordshire and North Wales.
Passion & technical expertise
25+ years experience
Quality services tailored to your project
Meet our team on site
Types of on-site ground investigations
Trial pits
Also known as trial trenches and trial pitting. Investigates the ground conditions, soil profiles, and groundwater levels or conditions
Boreholes
Enables collection of soil samples and rock cores. Sampling equipment and water monitoring wells can be installed to collect data, including water pressure and levels.
CBR tests
CBR (California Bearing Ratio) tests help calculate the strength of the substructure and subgrade materials for proposed roads and pavements.
How our services support ground investigations
Our ground investigation services help engineers to gain an accurate understanding of ground conditions. We work closely with geotechnical and geophysical survey companies to ensure efficient site investigations.
We assist engineering teams with high-precision setting out and position recording. Our state-of-the-art surveying equipment enables us to provide reliable, Ordnance Survey coordinated location data.
Our experienced surveyors mark out proposed investigation or monitoring points accurately, using advanced surveying techniques. This gives engineers confidence that they are carrying out tests and installing equipment in the correct places. It helps to reduce delays and errors for positioning points, so that time on site can be more cost-effective and efficient.
We record all ground investigation positions so they can be referred to throughout the project. This provides an accurate and reliable record of where investigations have taken place. Our precise surveying enables positions to be located or re-marked later on.
Our data can then be used for site plans, and smooth communication across the design and construction process. They can also be referred to for future ground surveys, monitoring and reporting.
Speak to our experts
Get free advice or a quote from our experienced team.
We’re known for our reliable, quality service and attention to detail.
Who we work with
How we work
Step 01
Request a quote
We’ll need your project’s address and a site plan. We’ll then get in touch for a consultation to confirm site details and understand exactly what your project needs.
Step 02
Quote accepted
Once your project is confirmed with us, we’ll arrange a convenient date for your survey.
Step 03
We complete your survey
We’ll visit your project site to carry out the survey. We can meet you on site if needed. We will then process the survey data and create a survey drawing.
Step 04
Receive your survey
We’ll share the survey data with you, usually within a few days. We use industry standard file types and can issue all the drawings in multiple formats.
More surveys we offer
Topographical Surveys
Accurate, scaled plan of a site’s terrain, and a record of the position and levels of both manmade and natural features.
Measured Building Surveys
3D site survey of a building’s layout and structure that can also be used to produce floor plans, elevations and cross-section drawings.
As-Built Surveys
A fully up-to-date record of what has just been constructed, ensuring it matches the proposed plans. Useful for producing further plans that require an accurate site layout.
Boundary Surveys
Clearly understand your boundary lines, remove uncertainty around neighbouring land, and prevent disputes.
Floor Level Surveys
Quality survey check for various floor construction stages, from existing floors to newly constructed slabs.
Garden Surveys
Highly detailed, specialist topographical survey for garden landscaping and redesigns.
GPS Surveys
Ideal for covering large open spaces, like fields, or where access may be restricted or challenging.
Ground Investigation Services
Reliable and accurate location data for ground investigations like CBR tests, boreholes and trial pits. We record data and mark out investigation and monitoring points.
Movement Monitoring Surveys
Tracking and recording movement or alterations, such as crack monitoring and land movements, in either a built structure or a landform.
River & Floodplain Surveys
Surveys of riverbanks and beds, as well as adjacent floodplains. We record water levels and significant features for flood risk assessments and erosion monitoring.
Road Surveys
Comprehensive record of current road layouts and levels, including kerbs, street furniture and road markings. Ideal for visibility splays and new highways designs.
Setting Out
Geocordinated setting out services for building groundworks and steelworks for new housing, commercial and industrial sites.
Surveys for Land Registry Title Plans
Site surveys for creating Land Registry compliant plans to record areas of sale, transfer, correction or first registration.
Volumetric Surveys & Terrain Models
Measuring the total amount of stockpiled, extracted or collected materials and aggregates. Suitable for construction, calculating and auditing.
