Prevent soil damage during construction projects
What is a construction soil management plan?
A soil management plan is an important part of ensuring soil sustainability during construction projects. Without a soil management plan there is a risk of losing, damaging or contaminating valuable soil resources, whether the soil will be retained for future landscaping on-site, or used or sold off-site.
What a soil management plan should contain
Your soil management plan should include:
- maps showing topsoil and subsoil types and areas to be stripped
- methods for stripping, stockpiling, respreading and improving the soils
- haul routes
- location and content of each soil stockpile
- schedules of volumes for each material
- expected after-use for each material
- who is responsible for supervising soil management
If your construction site doesn't have room to stockpile soil, it might make sense to find a sustainable off-site use for the temporary surplus and then import suitable soil later. However, you should consider the costs that this may involve.
You should ensure that any areas of soil that need to be protected from construction activities are clearly marked out by barrier tape and exclusion signs. Any haul routes should be stripped down to a firm base and be no wider than necessary to accommodate two passing vehicles.
Topsoil and subsoil stripping
Topsoil is a finite and valuable resource due to its fertility. Before beginning work on your construction site, you should strip the topsoil from all areas that will be disturbed by construction activities or driven over by vehicles.
Subsoil isn't as fertile as topsoil, but - because of the vital role it plays in storing and transmitting water - you should still minimise any damage during stripping. Subsoil in areas designated for landscape plantings often just needs to be protected from damage rather than stripped. However, you should remove subsoil from all areas that will be disturbed by construction activities or to make way for haul roads.
There are a number of best practice measures you should follow when stripping topsoil or subsoil to avoid soil damage as much as possible, such as:
- using tracked machinery
- carrying the work out in the driest conditions possible
Soil stockpiling techniques
To enable soil to be reused on site at a later stage, it needs to be stored in temporary stockpiles to minimise any damage or loss of function. There are a number of important considerations when creating stockpiles - including soil erosion, pollution to watercourses and the risk of flooding. These will be affected by the size, height and method of forming your stockpiles, and how they are protected and maintained.
You can also download a code of practice for soil use on construction sites (PDF, 737K).