Prevent soil damage during construction projects
Create landscapes, habitats or gardens with construction soil
If you are creating landscapes, habitats or gardens, there are a number of issues you should consider. For example, if you re-spread a large volume of soil that's been stockpiled or imported - particularly using heavy machinery - this can cause loss of soil structure and over-compaction.
Such damage to the soil's structure can cause a number of problems that will restrict its ability to support new vegetation. For example, if plant roots are unable to penetrate the soil and take up water or nutrients, they will be susceptible to drought.
Good soil spreading and cultivation techniques can help to reduce compaction and help restore lost soil function. You should consider:
- decompacting the soil before soil spreading begins
- using appropriate machinery
- minimising any handling of the soil
- suspending work in wet conditions
You will also need to consider a number of issues when you are spreading topsoil. For example, it needs to be at least 150 millimetres deep for grass, or a thicker layer for shrubs and trees as these have deeper roots.
Make sure that you remove any undesirable materials such as stones, fill materials or vegetation larger than 50 millimetres in any dimension. You should cultivate re-spread topsoil using appropriate equipment and techniques, and ensure that you break down any compacted lumps.
Familiarise yourself with best practice for re-spreading soil for landscaping, and using and cultivating topsoil.
If you do not have the in-house expertise to carry out this work effectively, you should get a suitably qualified person or organisation to do it for you.
You can also download a code of practice for soil use on construction sites (PDF, 737K).