Episode 5 – Soil-related subsidence
Subsidence is the most costly soil geohazard in the UK. The soil beneath some houses can shrink up to 20% and differential settlement can cause significant property damage. At the top of the ground risk list is clay soils, which pose the highest risk in terms economic damage, costing around £500 million a year. [1]
In this 20-minute episode, geospatial environmental data scientist Dr Tim Farewell, who has devoted his academic career to modelling and minimising the impact environmental impacts on property, land and infrastructure, will take you through the three questions you need to understand if a house is at risk from soil related subsidence. He will equip you with fundamental soil science principles, then demonstrate how soils interact with weather and trees to damage UK property. As a bonus, Dr Farewell will cover less well known soil hazards including sand washout (think cars falling through roads!) and the shrinkage of peat-rich soils.
This episode provides a useful lead into our final episode where we examine how this ground hazard will respond to a changing climate.
About the presenter
Dr Tim Farewell is one of the UK’s leading academics on ground hazards specialising in the dynamic interactions between geohazards and property and infrastructure. He works closely with research data including climate change models to map changes in ground conditions and is convinced of the need to better the understanding of the often complex environmental-infrastructure interactions.