AGS Chair’s blog September 2024: key geotechnical and sustainability takeaways
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on AGS (UK) – Blog/Magazine
30 Second Briefing
AGS’s September issue centres on Fugro’s move to cut single‑use plastic in site investigation by recycling core liners, alongside guidance on structuring Employee Networks to support both staff and business performance. A new EC7 Next Gen bitesize guide stresses that BS EN 1991:2023 must be used to correctly apply FprEN 1997:2024 when assigning geotechnical risk categories to structures. Practitioners are also alerted to potential environmental law changes under the Retained EU Law Act 2023 and to upcoming AGS events on EDI, groundwater in design and construction, and the 2025 London conference.
Technical Brief
- Use of BS EN 1991:2023 is described as mandatory background when applying FprEN 1997:2024 clauses.
- Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 piece flags potential divergence from historic EU-derived environmental protections.
Our Take
With only a handful of Geotechnical and Standard/Guideline-tagged stories in our coverage, this AGS Magazine piece signals that UK practice around BS EN 1991:2023 and FprEN 1997:2024 is still in an early phase of industry digestion rather than settled implementation.
The focus on UK-based groups such as the Business Practice Working Group and Fugro suggests that interpretation of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 for geotechnical design is likely to be driven by practitioner bodies rather than regulators publishing prescriptive guidance in the near term.
Given the 2025 conference timing and the sustainability tag, practitioners in the UK can expect BS EN 1991:2023 and FprEN 1997:2024 sessions to emphasise lifecycle and carbon-accounting implications for foundations and groundworks, not just changes to partial factors and verification methods.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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