UK loses 11% of land to building over last ten years

The need to re-use brownfield sites has been underlined by new research from the Ordnance Survey that, for the first time, measured land use to the nearest square inch. The survey found that the amount of land in the UK occupied by buildings has grown by over 11% over the last ten years.

Some 8.3% of Britain’s land mass of 90,500 square miles is now built on, compared with 7.7% in 2010. Buildings took an extra 129 square miles, roads expanded by 132 square miles and artificial surfaces such as carparks and hardstandings grew by 282 square miles.

The Government’s manifesto pledges to increase housebuilding can only increase the pressures to build on greenfield and rural sites. Britpave, the infrastructure industry association, believes that the redevelopment of brownfield land could significantly reduce these pressures.

“In the UK, according to the Campaign to Protect Rural England, there are 69,000 acres of brownfield land on which over 1.1 million new homes could be built,” said Al McDermid, Chair of the Britpave Soil Stabilisation Task Group. ““Much of this brownfield land could be sustainably and cost-effectively developed by using soil stabilisation techniques. This would address any issues resulting from the sites’ previous use and provide a viable alternative to greenfield sites.”

Soil stabilisation involves using cementitious binding materials such as cement, lime, fly ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), to treat potential contaminants on site to provide a soil that is non-toxic or will contained possible leaching and delivers a stronger engineered material to be built upon.
“The traditional approach to re-use brownfield land is to simply dig up the problem soil and dump it elsewhere. This is not an environmentally sustainable or cost effective approach,” explained McDermid. “Dealing with the problem on site minimises the cost and nuisance of lorry movements, negates the need to pay landfill taxes and removes the need to import virgin aggregate.”

However, he warned: “Soil stabilisation involves a lot more than a man and tractor simply churning up the ground and scattering over some binder. Soils types and possible contaminants need to be assessed and tested so that the correct binder can be administered. Handling binders correctly requires a proper health and safety protocol. It also requires the use of specially developed plant to ensure that the mixing and placement of soil and binder is efficiently undertaken. As with all things, the best results are achieved when it is carried out by experienced best practice contractors.”

He concluded: “The new figures from Ordnance Survey underline the limited asset that is land. Soil stabilisation maximises the potential of brownfield land to be re-used and so reduce the need to build on greenfield sites.