International Construction Law Review
GROUND RULES REVISITED
SIR ROBERT AKENHEAD
ABSTRACT
In January 1984, The International Construction Law Review featured commentary1 by this author on the then newly introduced Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) Conditions of Contract for Use in Connection with Ground Investigation (First Edition). This article revisits the subject, bringing the reader up to date with the latest developments, intertwined with selected excerpts from the original work.
“For many years it has been recognised that there are no available standard conditions, internationally or in the UK, for ground or site investigation. Neither the FIDIC nor the ICE Civil Engineering standard contracts are suitable, principally because their frameworks are such as to achieve a permanent physical result on a given site. Since 1968, there has been a growing body of opinion that there was a need and a place for standard conditions for ground investigation. In 1968 the National Economic Development Office committee, chaired by
Sir William Harris, recommended that such conditions should be drawn up. After five years of investigation and consultation, the joint drafting committee of the British Institution of Civil Engineers, set up in July 1978, has provided such conditions. The ‘Conditions of Contract for Use in Connection with Ground Investigation’ (First Edition) have been published (October 1983).”
It is almost 40 years since the ICE Conditions of Contract for Ground Investigation were published for use with much acclamation, with a second edition produced in 2003. The extent to which the world, as a whole, has accepted the need not only for ground or site investigation before works start, but also the need for an effective investigation, is not clear. Sometimes, particularly in less developed countries, lip service is paid to the need for such investigation, with little by way of a thought out and truly useful process being adopted.
Rudyard Kipling wrote:
“The cure for this ill is not to sit still, or frowst with a book by the fire, but to take a large hoe and a shovel, also, and dig till you gently perspire.”
Whilst that author was not thinking of site investigation, it does sum up the utility of the need for site investigation, rather than just do it from a sitting position indoors.
One has to go back to basics to consider why a well-planned investigation of the site needs to be done before the designs can be finalised, as well
1 Akenhead, R, “Laying down the ground rules”, [1984] ICLR 126. All boxed out text is taken from the original work.
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