The term ‘groundworks‘ refers to various works using a variety of plant machinery to prepare the ground and sub surface before a construction project can get going. These are the first activities involved on a construction site that lead to the foundations being laid.
Groundworks include much more than the preliminary excavations, including the laying of drains and any underground cabling required. You may need, for example, to lay utilities in advance, such as gas piping, water pipes, telephone lines and so on.
Groundworks is a wide term that encompasses many of the preliminary matters before you can get on with the construction itself.
What Happens Before the Plant Machinery Moves in
Probably a lot more than you may have considered. First of all comes the ground investigation then, in various forms, trenching, sewer construction, sub-structure and ground stabilisation works, drainage, site clearance, reinstatement, and landscaping to name just some of the tasks.
There are also legal requirements that must be adhered to, including making sure the site is suitable to be built on, that there are no environmental concerns and more. You will need to determine what condition the soil is in to decide on what type of foundations will be required in order to avoid any issues with subsidence or slippage occurring at a later time.
What Happens Next on the Groundworks?
After any preliminary matters have been dealt with, plant machinery will start coming into action. Site clearance is the first task of the next stage. Here you will look to carry out various tasks, including the removal of topsoil, levelling the ground, building retaining walls that are necessary for constructing level platforms for the construction to progress and prevent the ground from eroding.
After the early stages have been carried out, experts can work towards the design and creation of the sub-surface. This involves tasks like laying the foundation and the structure basement. You’ll also create retaining walls, built from materials such as bricks, blocks or reinforced concrete. You may also need to use steel frameworks to greatly improve the load bearing capacity of the foundation. All of these jobs are intended to make the ground steady and secure enough to support the structure which is to be built. This is true no matter what type of building you are putting up.
Final Groundworks Required
Once these initial processes have been completed, you can begin the next stage of the project. Often involving carrying out landscaping tasks like building car parks, access roads, driveways and other ground level tasks. The work you need to do will depend on the type of job you are carrying out.
Every stage of this groundwork construction needs different types of plant machinery. Below you’ll find an example of the plant machinery which you may need to be trained on for groundworks jobs. This is obviously not an exhaustive list as many other plant machinery could be necessary on your particular site:
- Forward tipping dumpers
- Excavators
- Forklifts
- Telehandlers
- Boom lifts
- 360 degree excavators
- 180 degree backhoe loaders
- Compactor plates
- Ride on rollers
Why Training For Groundworks is Important
Groundworks are essential to any site construction. In fact, it is probably the most important work to be carried out. The reasons are quite simple too. When putting up any construction, the whole weight will be leaning on the foundations. If the groundworks are faulty or have not been carried out properly, then there is a danger of the whole structure collapsing.
Ensuring you have carried out the proper groundwork for your particular site means that any building will be structurally stable. Groundworks are vital to the overall success of any building project. You want the building to be durable and firm. Everything begins with solid groundworks.
Contact the Diggerland Plant Training School team today!
If you would like to complete a training course with a trusted training school, you’re in the right place! All plant training courses available at Diggerland Plant Training School are NPORS accredited and approved. Don’t just take our word for being a trusted training school, see what those who have completed courses with us have to say here.
You can view our full range of plant training courses here.
Our main training site is based in Kent. For anyone not local to the South East, we also operate in Devon, Durham and Yorkshire. We can also arrange for our instructors to come to an external site of your choice if required.
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