27th June 2014, 12:34 PM
Sikelgaita Wrote:How can you possibly provide costings and programme construction works on the evidence of a DBA alone?
Not alone but as part of. You need to bracket possible costings/timescales. But you need to justify why and what.
A good DBA presents what is known in the development area, but also presents the results of an investigation of what is likely to be there, from lumps and bumps spotted during the walk over, to interpretations of geophysical surveys, to an experienced consideration of the landscape. A good DBA presents a combination of all the available data in a reasoned assessment of the potential for there being archaeological remains and it's likely preservation. But its only part of the process of formulating a mitigation strategy, then digging the stuff up!
And of course it's only part of the costing and programming of whatever construction project it is part of - d'oh. But without this information how can your client justify paying out for archaeological work, or indeed fit it into their programme of works?