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Mapping due-diligence to minimise

construction delays
Carole Ankers, Product Development Director, Landmark Information Group

You wont necessarily find

an English king under a
car park, but due diligence
will pay off

HOW-STOPPERS on construction sites for civil engineers include finding

hidden, unanticipated features that require additional cost and time to
investigate and deal with. Not only is there the potential to delay a time critical
project, but with this comes the added pressure of facing possible penalties should the
completion exceed a previously agreed deadline.
The past usage of an area of land may unearth unwelcome finds when undertaking
groundworks in preparation for a construction project. One well publicised example of
this was the surprise discovery of King Richard IIIs remains on a car park plot in
Leicestershire. While a car park located in a city centre certainly seems a rather unlikely
burial site for a former monarch, it is important to understand the history of the site, in
order to be as prepared as possible and ensure any remedial works are factored into
the wider project plan.
Due-diligence is therefore key and, in todays digital world, architects, civil
engineers, planners and surveyors are all able to take advantage of a host of online
data sources and mapping tools that support this initial process, integrate with GIS and
CAD tools, as well as feed into feasibility studies, risk assessments, environmental
impact reports or the wider planning process or overall building information model.
Mapping plays a major part in helping to avoid on-site disruption by providing
intelligence into a range of factors. For example, you have the ability to overlay old
mapping from as far back as 1840 with current maps to identify and accurately locate
previous features or even specific land use, which may hold some vital information.
Maps can be site-centred for ease of comparison and overlaid with the National Grid so
that historical features can be identified and transferred to modern mapping, as
accurately as possible. This doesnt however mean you have to become a mapping
expert overnight and wade through rafts of paper archives.
Today, historical maps, town plans, aerial photographs, building plans and even
Russian maps are available digitally and all can be analysed in an online
environment. For example, you can show your site in context, by viewing current
mapping and 25cm resolution aerial photography against a historic map. You can draw
point, polygon and linear features, including the grid reference, direction and distance
from the site, to help illustrate exactly where additional site checks may be required.
Going back to the discovery of King Richard III, at the time of the find we carried
out our own historical map analysis on the site using mapping from 1888, which was
overlaid with a range of more recent maps. From this, we were able to identify how the
use of the Leicester car park has evolved from open grassland, to the car park that it is
today. A 1954 Ordnance Survey map is the first to indicate that the site could be of
historical interest, showing it was the location of a ruin of a former Franciscan friary.
Add to this further analysis on the nearby site of the Battle of Bosworth, which claimed
King Richard IIIs life and led to Henry Tudor becoming the next monarch of England.
From this, we identified that the site was used for King Henry VIIs encampment, which
sits outside the English Heritage-protected site of the battlefield. As a strange
coincidence, a section of that site also happens to now be a public car park.
What all this demonstrates is that, without thorough checks, it is often impossible to
tell what lies beneath the top soil during excavation works. The recent history may be
well known such as whether a factory or gas works was situated on site and therefore
decontamination may be required but what about the more historical land use?
Mapping an areas history can certainly add additional context to the site in question.
This is, of course, just an example, which shows one extreme of hidden features.
However, due diligence and analysis is required to determine many other, more
common, factors that have the potential to disrupt a large-scale construction project,
if not identified at the outset. Digital appraisals can be undertaken to determine a
wide range of factors and insight, from unexploded ordnance risk, to underground

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$4,4&0'3/4322143/0%)1,2#.1

While a car park located in a city

centre seems an unlikely burial
site for a former monarch, it is
important to understand the
history of the site, in order to be
as prepared as possible.
utilities searches or even flood or ground
stability (for example natural and
manmade cavities).
Looking specifically at unexploded
ordnance (UXO), while a relatively low
probability, it has an extremely high
consequence due to significant injury that
could occur or, at worst, loss of life. A
preliminary risk assessment determines
the probability of unearthing explosive
remnants. This searches a huge range of
datasets and maps to determine the risk of
encountering a bomb, including bomb
census and damage maps, Luftwaffe
reconnaissance photographs, post-war
RAF aerial photographs, historical
mapping pre and post WWII, locations of
historical explosive manufacturing sites,
military training areas, sites occupied by
the Ministry of Defence, and WWII
bombing decoy sites, to name just a few.
Before any new groundwork
commences, it is recommended by the
Construction Industry Research and
Information Association (CIRIA) that a
preliminary UXO survey is undertaken as
a matter of course. Although the potential
risk may be considered small, the safety
of the team involved in the project is a
priority and shouldnt be underestimated.
Ground stability is another issue;
subsidence does not only occur in areas
where coal mining has taken place;
historical land-use data and maps play a
big part here in identifying old shafts,
pits, tunnels or other subterranean
features that are not immediately
noticeable above ground. In terms of
underground utilities, understanding the
features that lie below the surface is
crucial before any excavations, designs or
developments commence. Searches
provide information regarding gas and oil
pipelines, electricity cables,
telecommunication wires, mains water
supplies, sewers and fibre-optic cables. A
visual overview map of the search area is
provided, alongside a summary report
that breaks down all utility companies
contacted and whether they believe the
site in question is affected. On top of
these examples, there are many more

ways that maps are today being

interrogated to determine potential on-site
risk; from understanding potential flood
risk or land contamination, to land-use
constraints, geological data through to
ancient burial grounds all of which may
not be visible to the naked eye, but could
have a major impact on overall plans.
Ultimately, implementing a thorough
due diligence strategy at the start of any
construction project, including analysing
current and historical maps, will help
towards preventing costly delays that can
occur from finding the unknown too late
in the land acquisition, assessment and
subsequent construction process.
Carole Ankers,
Product Development Director,
Landmark Information Group
www.landmark.co.uk
http://landmarkuk.blogspot.co.uk/
Tweet @LandmarkUK

The London Olympic site in 1908 (top) and present day (below).
Ordnance Survey data Crown copyright and database right (2014).
Landmark Information Group 2014