BS EN 16907 – Europe’s First Earthworks Standard: Enabling a Common Approach for the Future

Synopsis

The first ever European Earthworks Standard, BS EN 16907, were published at the end of 2018. This was the culmination of over ten years of detailed collaborative working by earthworks specialists from many European countries including the UK. The new standard treats earthworks design as a process, which will be illustrated in the lecture using topical project examples.

Earthworks are a feature of nearly every geotechnical project and so the subject of this meeting will be of interest and relevance to all geotechnical engineers. As well as introducing the main aspects of the new standard, the speakers will discuss how BS 6031, the BS Code of Practice for Earthworks, will be updated to align it with the new European standard. They will also introduce CEN Technical Specification for Continuous Compaction Control, also prepared by the CEN TC 396 working group, which has the potential to introduce innovations to the process and recording of compaction in the UK.