GWP Consultants - Geotechnics. A high profile area of the business and one of continuing importance, expertise in geotechnics is the foundation of much of our work and is integral to many of the projects commissioned by our clients. GWP provides advice on a range of geotechnical and related matters including the investigation and characterisation of rocks and engineering soils, the design of slopes in rock and soils, tip and engineered fill design, rockfall prediction and containment, subsidence prediction and back analysis of slope failures and design of remedial measures. Safe and achievable designs are often required in difficult, structurally controlled settings where access and working space may be seriously constrained. Both conventional and numerical modelling techniques are applied as appropriate. GWP has prepared two widely acclaimed handbooks for the Department of the Environment on the hydrogeology and stability of excavated slopes in quarries and on the design of tips and related structures. Both are published by the Stationery Office. Complementary to its geotechnical services, GWP provides specialist advice on a wide range of issues in relation to rock blasting and excavation. Services include the characterisation of rock masses, assessment of natural block size distributions for armour stone production, diggability studies and equipment selection, face profiling, blast designs and monitoring (relating both to compliance and optimisation of costs), environmental impact assessment relating to vibrations and blast fragmentation studies. GWP has recently teamed up with Leeds University to form a new company, Blast Log Ltd. Central to the work of Blast Log Ltd is the application of a blast vibration compliance monitoring package, BLAST LOG©. For more information on Blast Log, visit their website at www.blastlog.co.uk. Projects routinely undertaken include: geotechnical feasibility and design studies; preparation of reports required by the Quarries Regulations (1999) for excavated faces, tips, stockpiles and lagoons; optimisation of excavation batters in overburden and minerals, to maximise recovery and ensure the security of proposed operations in support of planning applications; the phased design of excavations to safely reduce unstable faces in confined locations; the design of remedial works and specialist stabilisation measures; the design of rockfall containment measures in former mineral workings; subsidence prediction linked to stability analysis; stability assessments of landfill linings (mineral and geosynthetics); and design of face layouts and orientations to reduce blast vibrations near sensitive structures.