The publication of recent British Standards has introduced new terms and requirements for reporting ground investigations. In particular these standards have introduced “Ground Investigation Reports” (GIR) and “Geotechnical Design Reports” (GDR). This paper seeks to clarify the definitions of a GIR and GDR and to put them into context with the more commonly and historically produced Factual and Interpretative Reports in UK ground investigation practice.
Recommendations for reports on ground investigations are now spread through a number of documents [British Codes such as BS5930 and British Standards such as BS EN 1997, the UK Specification for Ground Investigation and a number of others]. Although they do not contradict each other, it is difficult to compare requirements and definitions across documents. This Guide presents extracts from the relevant sections of these various documents to provide a single source clarifying the definitions and requirements of each type of ground investigation report and how they interact.