Is a Landslip Risk Assessment the same as a “soil test”?
No. A Landslip Risk Assessment is a much more detailed and investigative type of assessment. It does however involve some similar geotechnical principles so that if you are required to have a Geotechnical or Landslip Risk Assessment undertaken, then you will not require a regular site classification or “soil test” as well. Both Geotechnical Assessments and Landslip Risk Assessments include a site classification.
Does a Landslip Risk Assessment include recommendations for footings?
Yes. Both Geotechnical Assessments and Landslip Risk Assessment include recommendations for footings and suitable foundations depths. Both assessment include site classifications which will substitute the need for a regular “soil test” and they both include detailed recommendations on many aspects of good hillside building practice from footings to drainage and vegetation, to provide you with the best advice in order to minimise the consequence of or the likelihood of a hazard occurring.
What happens if my site is high risk?
In many cases a site and its proposed development may be evaluated in the first instance as High Risk. Our Landslip Risk Assessments will endeavour to apply mitigation measures as part of our recommendations in order to either reduce the likelihood of the hazard occurring, or the consequence to life or property in the event of the hazard occurring, or both. We evaluate both the existing conditions and mitigated conditions (if warranted) so that our assessment is completely transparent to the regulatory authority. Our aim will be to attempt to reduce the risk via mitigation measures so that the risk level can be reduced to a satisfactory level.
What if I haven’t decided on the development type yet or I am thinking of buying a block covered by an Erosion Management Overlay (EMO)?
You can have or may still wish to have a Geotechnical Assessment undertaken, even if you do not yet know the details of your intended development. In this case however, your assessment may not be satisfactory for any pending planning application. Any Geotechnical Assessment or Landslip Risk Assessment must be conducted in relation to a proposed development, including building plans in order for it to be acceptable for you planning application. If you still want to have a preliminary geotechnical assessment conducted (such as if you are looking to buy a block) that is your choice, however the assessment can only assess the existing site conditions and will have to be reviewed and updated at a later time when you have finalised details of you intended development. Just like a regular Geotechnical Assessment, a preliminary assessment may find that a full Landslip Risk Assessment may be warranted due to site conditions. If the site does require a full Landslip Risk Assessment, detailed building and development plans will need to be submitted to the local planning authority (local government body).
