23rd February 2008, 01:18 PM
The preservation of organic archaeological remains (a site can be waterlogged without them being preserved) complicates matters further and is much disputed topic. The key piece on this is in Archaeology in Law Samuels and Pugh Smith in relation to a site in Croydon.
The issue is how will the piling affect the water table and this requires a knowledge of how stable the height of the water table is or how it is changing.
The notion of re-using piles is an attractive one but engineers will be reluctant to do this unless the original calculations are available. One thing that should be done is to configure the design so that in the future the piles can be re-used and make sure the relevant info is properly archived. This of course costs.
Dr Peter Wardle
The issue is how will the piling affect the water table and this requires a knowledge of how stable the height of the water table is or how it is changing.
The notion of re-using piles is an attractive one but engineers will be reluctant to do this unless the original calculations are available. One thing that should be done is to configure the design so that in the future the piles can be re-used and make sure the relevant info is properly archived. This of course costs.
Dr Peter Wardle