With thousands of homes affected every year, subsidence can reduce your property’s resale value by as much as 20%. Here’s how to spot it and stop it in its tracks…

The UK’s road and infrastructure network is in constant need of upkeep and traditional remediation methods are often too slow to keep our networks running in a timely, cost-efficient manner. This ultimately leads to much public frustration and loss of confidence in our government’s ability to, quite literally, take us where we want to go.

The UK’s road and infrastructure network is in constant need of upkeep and traditional remediation methods are often too slow to keep our networks running in a timely, cost-efficient manner.

Subsidence compromises the integrity of a building. While concrete underpinning and ground improvement can help to slow or stop a building from subsiding further, sometimes this is not enough. In warehouse and manufacturing environments for example, it is crucial that a building is level and stable to ensure the safety of the facility. Therefore, raising and re-levelling a building can be a necessity.

With May 2020 officially designated as hottest on record, it is very possible that the UK will experience another hot, dry summer again this year. As most will remember 2018 saw an uncharacteristic six-week long heatwave which caused a surge in subsidence claims. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the ‘357% increase in the value of claims was the highest quarterly jump since records started more than 25 years ago.’ This could likely happen again if this summer follows the same trend.

With May 2020 officially designated as hottest on record, it is very possible that the UK will experience another hot, dry summer again this year. As most will remember 2018 saw an uncharacteristic six-week long heatwave which caused a surge in subsidence claims. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the ‘357% increase in the value of claims was the highest quarterly jump since records started more than 25 years ago.’ This could likely happen again if this summer follows the same trend.

When it comes to reviewing your workplace health and safety practices and business efficiencies, it is important to assess whether the foundations beneath your warehouse, loading dock, transport hub and driveway are stable.

Some cracks are nothing to worry about, others can cost you thousands.

If you’ve got one big enough to stick your little finger in (about 5mm or wider), it could be due to subsidence. If you’ve got sloping floors and doors or windows that are jammed and won’t close too… it’s almost definitely due to subsidence.

Some regard floors as a liability, while others would use more denigratory language, but floors are like machinery in one respect; treat them well and they will serve you well. However, this message, while obvious enough, is often compromised by issues like lack of funds in the budget, no time for repairs, and worries over disruption during repairs. If you feel such issues are relevant to you then perhaps you are in the wrong kind of business because floors have a way of biting you, costwise, at the worst of times. What’s more, it could be argued that in this fast-changing distribution world floors can be a source of competitive advantage where every minute counts.

The office building (20m x 15m), attached to a distribution warehouse (205m x 80m), had sunk by up to 70mm and needed to be raised and re-levelled to ensure the business could operate safely. The smaller building was regularly used by staff as it housed the main office and staff amenities.

It is still too early to gauge what impact the new Conservative government will have on construction going forward, particularly regarding Brexit. Putting this uncertainty to the side for a moment, we asked a cross-section of the industry, both at home and abroad, to give their hopes and aspirations for the year ahead, while also getting some insight into what 2019 meant to them.

Mainmark has launched a series of free CPD seminars for construction and building specialists, ground engineers and property managers.

This is in a bid to help improve all-around industry knowledge of the latest technologies and solutions for ground engineering and property preservation.