Building on fill
BRE (Building Research Establishment) is the UK's leading centre of expertise for construction, the built environment, energy, fire, security and many associated issues.
On 13 October 2015, BRE published Building on fill: geotechnical aspects 3rd edition 2015 (FB 75), written by Ken Watts and Andrew Charles.
The increasing demand for land for development and the political and commercial impetus to build on brownfield land means that a high proportion of new commercial, industrial and housing developments are now built on ‘fills’. That is, they are built on ground that has been deposited by human activity rather than by natural geological processes.
It is important therefore that there is a good understanding of the behaviour of fills and the ways they can be safely and economically rendered suitable for development.
This 336-page book, now in its third edition, encompasses BRE’s unique experience over a period of more than 40 years of research and consultancy, and brings the subject up to date since publication of the second edition 14 years earlier.
New material in the third edition includes:
- Recent research findings and industry experience.
- Ground improvement and treatment using proprietary and non-proprietary techniques.
- Case histories and updated cases from the second edition.
- Studies on the behaviour of fills over a longer time period and a wider range of fills.
Its contents include:
- Fills in context.
- Engineering behaviour of fills.
- Construction on fills.
- Performance of fills.
- Appendices.
- References and further reading.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Brownfield land.
- Contaminated land.
- Cover systems for land regeneration - thickness of cover systems for contaminated land (BR465).
- Fill.
- Ground conditions.
- Ground heave.
- Ground improvement techniques.
- Ground investigation.
- Hydraulically treated soils in residential construction (BR 513).
- Methane and other gasses from the ground.
- Pollution.
- Radon.
- Solid and liquid contaminants risk assessments.
Featured articles and news
Confirming previously announced funding, and welfare changes amid adjusted growth forecast.
Scottish Government responds to Grenfell report
As fund for unsafe cladding assessments is launched.
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Architects Academy at an insulation manufacturing facility
Programme of technical engagement for aspiring designers.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.
The restoration of the novelist’s birthplace in Eastwood.
Life Critical Fire Safety External Wall System LCFS EWS
Breaking down what is meant by this now often used term.
PAC report on the Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Recommendations on workforce, transparency, support, insurance, funding, fraud and mismanagement.
New towns, expanded settlements and housing delivery
Modular inquiry asks if new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing.
Building Engineering Business Survey Q1 2025
Survey shows growth remains flat as skill shortages and volatile pricing persist.
Construction contract awards remain buoyant
Infrastructure up but residential struggles.
Warm Homes Plan and existing energy bill support policies
Breaking down what existing policies are and what they do.
A dynamic brand built for impact stitched into BSRIA’s building fabric.